Official: Lionel Richie Joins ‘American Idol’

Published: Friday 29th Sep 2017 by Sam

After what was reportedly a long laborious process, producers for ABC’s American Idol reboot have apparently have their judges signed on the dotted line. All of them.

Full story below…

[UPDATED]

Per TMZ, Katy Perry will officially be joined by legend Lionel Richie and Country star Luke Bryan. Both names had been in the mix for a fair amount of time.

Lawyers are said to be crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s, but the deal is said to be essentially done and an announcement is as imminent as today.

It brings to an end a tiresome journey to find talent to join Perry. Not because there was no interest. But rather the sky-high pay-packet she commanded ate into the budget.

As widely reported, the Pop star is taking home $25 million for her services and host Ryan Seacrest was enticed back as host for somewhere in the region of $10-$15 million. That left little to work with within the original budget allocated.

Now, sources say that said budget has been binned and Bryan will pocket $13 million and Richie close to $10 million. A potential issue when it comes to the show being able to turn a profit (which in turn impacts its renewal prospects for subsequent seasons).

Still, we’re willing to give Idol a chance when it returns at the top of 2018. Are you?

UPDATE: It’s been confirmed!

Your thoughts?

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  1. Nique September 29, 2017

    I dunno who Luke Bryan is so no comment on that. I like the idea of Lionel Ritchie. They wasted their money on Kay Perry. Touchdown for bringing back Ryan Seacrest. That’s all I have. ?

  2. China September 29, 2017

    Lionel Richie is an Iconic Singer/Songwriter on the level of Mariah Carey and Celine Dion and Diana Ross. Katy Perry is NOT QUALIFIED. She is good at marketing and video images. Vocally? she’s a wash

  3. SMH September 29, 2017

    This makes sense. But what doesn’t make sense is

    A-Why this show is being rebooted at all.
    B-How & why in hell are they paying him (or Ryan Seacrest) less money than Katy Perry?

  4. pat September 29, 2017

    Legend. but we don’t need this

  5. ShaeDiddy September 29, 2017

    Katy Perry is a waste of money. I like her music for the most part but I would have liked to see Judges that are a little more iconic. Lionel is perfect. If they wanted to waste $25 mil on somebody I would have rather it been Diddy.

    • Nique September 29, 2017

      Diddy would’ve been good ???. I know we remember him judging MTB girls and guys. Plus he has made or help make superstars. And replace Luke Bryan with Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood or some other TALENTED female alum and that would’ve been the perfect panel.

  6. Mary September 29, 2017

    Frank Gatson should be the judge for American Idol… The Black SImon ….. He has help create one of the biggest superstars ever..

    BEYONCE

  7. Casual September 29, 2017

    One of idols bonafides should have been invited to the panel. Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, and Jennifer Hudson would have been better choices than Katy Perry. And Katy Perry is kind of over. Who’s idea was it to waste $25 mil on her?

    Aretha Franklin floated the idea of doing Idol a few seasons ago. She would have been a great choice too.

  8. Achooo! September 29, 2017

    American Idol 2.0 is making one bad decision after the next! This will be dead on arrival.

  9. Jasmine September 29, 2017

    Although Katy was a waste of money and I can see how producers might have wanted to pay her 25 mil because she just came off of doing superbowl and her last album before this lackluster one did well on the charts. The whole show needs to be over at this point. Reinvent the wheel with something new. Perhaps a cheaper produced show based on wannabe youtube stars where the grand prize is 250K and the judges are real people voting online.

  10. My2Cents September 30, 2017

    Lionel Richie needs to be paid more than $10 million. American Idol is disrespecting him by offering such a low salary for a talented/successful musician & singer like Lionel. I hope the $10 million is fake. Lionel should get no less than $30 million.

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