Katy Perry once sang about kissing a girl, and liking it. But it turns out not everyone likes kissing her.
That's the situation Katy finds herself in after an unusual audition on the revival of American Idol earlier this week involving 19-year-old singer-songwriter Benjamin Glaze.
The electronics store worker caught the eye of KP when he confided that he'd never been in a serious relationship, nor had he kissed a girl — since you "can't kiss a girl without being in a relationship", according to Benjamin.
That philosophy went right out the window when Katy called Benjamin over to the judging desk and planted a kiss him. It's safe to say that being kissed by a world-famous popstar flustered Benjamin.
He actually had to sing from that point, and his cover of Nick Jonas' 'Levels' didn't go so well. Unfortunately, it was up to Katy to crush his dreams when it came time for the judges' comments.
"Truthfully, there are just some people who are out-singing you right now," Katy told him. "I don't think it'd be fair to put you in that kind of competition.
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"Next time, take a little bit more time. You were a little bit rushed. Maybe that's because I sped up the BPM of your heartbeat."
Benjamin accepted defeat with a smile in the moment. Now that the audition has aired, it's a whole different story.
Speaking to the New York Times, Benjamin complained that Katy had actually robbed him of the meaningful first kiss that he'd dreamt of.
"I was a tad bit uncomfortable," he admitted. "I wanted to save it for my first relationship. I wanted it to be special.
"Would I have done it if she said, 'Would you kiss me?' No, I would have said no. I know a lot of guys would be like, 'Heck yeah!' But for me, I was raised in a conservative family and I was uncomfortable immediately. I wanted my first kiss to be special."
With the help of his friends, Benjamin has decided that his lip-lock with Katy Perry "didn't really count" as his first kiss because there was no romantic attachment. He also stressed that he did not feel sexually harassed by the Idol judge.
Apparently kissing Katy Perry wasn't all bad, though. Benjamin told the NYT that the one upside was that the kiss had extended the amount of time he was on-screen.
"So in that way, I'm glad she did it because it's a great opportunity to get my music out," he reasoned.
American Idol is airing on ABC in the US.
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
