 "Katy Perry tricks 19-year-old American Idol contestant into kissing her on the lips; rouses viewers' ire")
Benjamin Glaze, a 19-year-old from Oklahoma who came to the newly revamped popular reality show American Idol in hopes of becoming a pop-star, had the best or the worst day of his life, given how you look at it. American Idol returned to television after 2016 with three new judges — Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. The country music superstar Luke Bryan started off Glaze’s audition with the question, “Have you ever kissed a girl and liked it?,” an obvious reference to the popular Katy Perry song ‘I Kissed a Girl’. When Glaze responded by saying that he never been in a relationship and hence never kisses a girl, Katy Perry let out a surprised “Really?’. She then asked Glaze to step forward and her on the cheek, which a clearly nervous and seemingly uneasy Glaze did. Perry, though, wasn’t impressed with Glaze’s peck on her cheek because he “didn’t even make the ‘smoosh’ sound.” During a second attempt at the kiss. Perry hustled Glaze and, well, the 19-year-old fell to the ground in shock. via GIPHY Glaze recovered from the shock of being kissed by Katy Perry and quipped, “how was it?”, making things a little less awkward that it was for him. Glaze, in an interview with the New York Times, said, “I was a tad bit uncomfortable. 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.”
Katy Perry’s actions has not gone down well with the internet. Now, many have started to call the pop-star out for hypocrisy, and even accused her of sexual harassment. Twitter has been ablaze with arguments such as what if the genders were reversed and it was an older male who did the same with a teenage girl? A section of the American media has labelled Perry’s actions and the media’s reactions to it as liberal bias.
One NYT reader's reaction to Katy Perry giving an unwanted kiss to an “American Idol” contestant https://t.co/oTmKl3vdWJ pic.twitter.com/aukWOydhjE
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 14, 2018
Benjamin Glaze has now downplayed some backlash aimed at Perry. The 19-year-old took to Instagram on Wednesday to say he did not think he was sexually harassed.
The singer from Oklahoma says he was uncomfortable when Perry kissed him on the lips as he auditioned during the show’s two-night season opener on ABC. Glaze says he had never been kissed before. He needed some water before singing Nick Jonas’ ‘Levels’, which Perry called “a bit rushed.” Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan did not send Glaze to the next round. Glaze says he should have picked another song and calmed himself down regardless of the kiss.
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
