Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has claimed that bosses at American Idol wanted him to be harsher to contestants when he was a judge on the show.
Tyler appeared on seasons 10 and 11 of the long-running talent show in 2011, alongside Randy Jackson and Jennifer Lopez.
Speaking to Joe Rogan on the The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Tyler admitted that he didn't like being mean to contestants, no matter how delusional they were.
"It took me about two weeks to get into it because I told myself I am never going to tell some young girl who can't sing that she 'cant sing get the f**k out of here' like that other guy," Tyler said.
"I didn't have it in me."
The 'other guy' Tyler was referring to was his predecessor Cowell, who Rogan pointed out isn't even a singer himself.
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"They [the producers] would say to me, 'Come on man, take it up a notch'," Tyler added.
"They got me a couple of times."
The singer also talked about why he signed on for Idol, confirming he had his doubts, even asking himself 'would Bob Dylan do this?'.
He also felt bad when his bandmate Joe Perry said that Tyler appearing on the show was 'one step under Ninja Turtles'.
But other than getting a good payday out of Idol, Tyler had reasons closer to home to take the gig.
"I did it because I thought nobody knew who I was," Tyler said, adding that people knew his stage persona rather than him as a person.
"My mom's passed away and she said, 'They need to see that side of you'".
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Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.
After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.
Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.
You can read more of her work on her Substack page.
