ABC is bringing back American Idol, but it won’t be able to count on an appearance from original winner Kelly Clarkson. That’s because she has abandoned her old singing competition show in favor of NBC’s The Voice, making this the most vicious slam in singing competition show history—or at least since the last time Simon Cowell made somebody cry by saying something mean.
News of this brutal bomb comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says Clarkson will be sitting alongside longtime The Voice bros Adam Levine and Blake Shelton as a coach on the show’s 14th season (that’s the one after the next one). In a statement, Clarkson said that she and The Voice have “gone back and forth” about her signing on as a coach “for years,” but “the timing” for it wasn’t right until now. Once again, the “timing” here is just two days after ABC announced that it’s reviving American Idol.
The final judge for season 14 of The Voice hasn’t been announced yet, but earlier this week, NBC also announced that fellow American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson will be a judge on the 13th season along with Levine, Shelton, and Miley Cyrus.