After an 'American Idol' season filled with highs and lo🧔ws for judge Katy Perry, her fellow judge Luke Bryan is co༒ming to her defence.
The 'Dark Horse' singer has been a judge since the show's revival in 2018 - but duri🐼ng the most recent season, she sparked backlash among fans for various comments she made to contestants, at one point even drawing flak, reports People magazin🦂e.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Bryan praised Perry, who he said is used to shaking off negative♊ attention.
"Katy Perry's been dealing with stuff like that her whole career,ඣ" he said, quoted by People. "We all get it. I mean, we're judging kids that people at home fall in love with. We're not gonna bat 1,000 as judges."
The country star, 46, said he believes that he and Perry, 38, as well as fellow judge Lionel Richie, are often put in a tough position, as it falls to them to beꦬ critical of contestants that viewers adore.
"I think we get set up. As judges, you know, we kinda fal🎶l on the sword a lot of times," he said. "And get set up to where people can get very vocal on socials and stuff. My thing is, I think when me and Lionel and Katy sit down at ൩the desk, in our hearts, we're doing the best we can."
As per People, Perry was the subject of some heat from viewers this season, w💞hich began during auditions, when she joked that contestantౠ Sara Beth Liebe - a mother of three children - had been "laying on the table too much."
Liebe went on to accuse Per༺ry of "mom-shaming" in a TikTok video, and later quit the competition, though the 'Firework' singer tried to convince her to stay. Liebe later expressed gratitude towards the show and towa🐻rds Perry, implying that the two were on good terms.
