Luke Bryan worried he would be fired from “American Idol” after going on a controversial rant about fellow country singer Dustin Lynch last year.
Lynch revealed Tuesday that Bryan anxiously called him about his future as a judge on the ABC show after going viral for roasting the “Thinking ‘Bout You” singer onstage at the 2023 Crash My Playa music festival in Mexico.
“We’re looking at all these articles pop up like, ‘Oh, crap,'” Lynch recalled on iHeartPodcasts and MeatEater’s “God’s Country” podcast.
“And so [Bryan] has to apologize, you know, especially with, now he’s worrying [about], obviously, ‘American Idol.’ Who cares about the country music thing? It’s ‘American Idol.’ … He gets to where he can’t sleep at night ’cause he’s worried.”
Lynch, 38, explained that Bryan, 47, was simply “trying to be funny” while introducing his performance but took it too far by joking about drinking and sex.
“He starts going down this road of just bashing me and to the point where I’m looking at his manager like, ‘Dang.’ We hit the stage and anyway; it catches fire,” he remembered of the reaction online.
Lynch shared that Bryan felt bad afterward and asked for his parents’ email addresses to personally apologize to them.
“[That] just shows you what kind of guy Luke is,” he added.
Bryan came under fire in January 2023 when he asked concertgoers to give a warm welcome to Lynch by saying, “No one has drank more liquor, no one has vomited more, no one has taken more drugs, no one has taken more IVs, no one has passed more STD tests than this next gentleman.”
Many social media users were quick to blast the “uncalled-for” comments, with one writing that they were “beyond disappointed” in the “One Margarita” singer.
Days later, Bryan issued a public apology, calling Lynch one of his “dearest friends on the planet” and clarifying that his remarks were “complete sarcasm.”
The “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” singer has been on the “American Idol” judging panel since 2018 alongside Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.
Season 22 of the singing competition series premieres Sunday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
