When Benjamin Glaze, at the time a 19-year-old cashier from Enid, Oklahoma, auditioned for American Idol, he was hoping his big moment would come while he was singing. Instead, it came when pop star Katy Perry, who is one of the judges, surprised him by kissing him on the lips. He had never been kissed before. “I was a tad bit uncomfortable,” Glaze told The New York Times this week, after the incident aired on the season premiere. He said that he had been putting off his first kiss, which he considered a right of passage. “I wanted to save it for my first relationship,” he said. “I wanted it to be special.” Glaze told The Times that he was raised in a conservative family and was “uncomfortable immediately. I wanted my first kiss to be special.” He said he would have said no if Perry had asked him. The scene with the kiss was part of the two-night season opener for the new American Idol, which is now airing on ABC after a 15-year run on Fox. Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, the judges are Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. The scene with Glaze shows him waiting around for his audition, then going on stage, where Bryan asks if he’s kissed a girl. When he says no, Perry tells him to come over to her at the table and puts her face out. He goes to kiss her on the check, but Perry swings her face around and kissed him quickly on the lips. Glaze jumped backward and yelled, “Katy! You didn’t!” Glaze said that he does not feel that he was sexually harassed and in hindsight, is glad it helped draw attention to his music. The show’s producers embraced the footage and have used it on promos and on social media. But the kiss did not sit well with some viewers, while others questioned if Glaze’s religious convictions had been disrespected. But others called him lucky.
This journey has just begun, Benjamin.
A kiss for good luck from @katyperry and you’re on your way. #AmericanIdol pic.twitter.com/k9YYLkLcXM
— American Idol (@AmericanIdol) March 12, 2018
It was a forced sexual act. Imagine if this was from a male judge. Has @katyperry not taken anything from the #metoo movement? #americanidol
— Molly Fletcher (@molfizzle) March 12, 2018
#benjaminglaze how lucky you are. @katyperry with the first one,you like in haven now #Americanidol pic.twitter.com/KC26qvGO0O
— Abdulrhaman Bin Othman ✨ (@Doomy_wiz) March 12, 2018
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
