The beauty of unscripted television is that anything can happen at any time, and American Idol judge and singer Katy Perry experienced that for herself in the latest episode when she had a wardrobe malfunction during an impromptu performance. Following the malfunction, she had a fun exchange with fellow judge Luke Bryan, and it involved SpongeBob SquarePants.
While American Idol hasn’t begun the live shows yet this season, that doesn’t mean that things still can’t go awry on the fly. When Katy Perry was performing her hit song “Teenage Dream” on the singing competition, the singer bent down and ripped the back of her red leather pants. Crew members and Luke Bryan came to Perry’s assistance with yellow duct tape and the moment led to a great exchange with the judges on Twitter:
family, my ass #AmericanIdol https://t.co/rlPeHNzzXLMarch 29, 2022
In case anyone needs a refresher or simply missed out on the golden age of SpongeBob SquarePants, Bryan’s tweet is in reference to the Season 1 episode of the Nickelodeon series, appropriately titled “Ripped Pants.” And while Perry’s tweet is pretty self-explanatory, it's also pretty hilarious. The pop singer tweeted the video clip where it all went down, with the American Idol logo covering the ripped area:
ima get ur heart racing in my skin-tight jeans on #americanidol tonight 👀 tune in now for a RIPPING good time 🤪 pic.twitter.com/gw3bav78RsMarch 29, 2022
This isn’t the first time that Katy Perry has had a wardrobe malfunction on the rebooted American Idol. The same thing actually happened back in 2018, though she was wearing a silver jumpsuit, sitting down, and Lionel Richie helped her while Luke Bryan was seated and taking it all in.
Perry seemed to be in good spirits during the malfunction, and her exchange with Bryan was nothing but fun. American Idol may be a family show, but this could have gone in a very different direction if it had been a live broadcast! At least the judges are evidently close enough to each other to lend a hand (and some tape) in the event of an outfit emergency.
It's impressive that Katy Perry hasn’t had more wardrobe malfunctions, especially since her recent Las Vegas residency was a big, weird playground with plenty of outrageous outfits. It wouldn’t surprise me if Perry soon starts to wear outfits made out of duct tape, but at least her reaction to the malfunction made for entertaining television.
Meanwhile, the series is getting ready for Hollywood Week, which will see the return of past winners and contestants, including David Cook, Jordin Sparks, Haley Reinhart, and Ruben Studdard (who also returned last season), among others. Hopefully, Perry won’t have any problems, but whatever happens, she’ll presumably handle it like a pro as she always does.
American Idol airs on ABC on Sundays and Mondays at 8 p.m. EST! Check out what other 2022 shows to look forward to, as there are many.
