Katy Perry walked off the set of American Idol when celebrity judges voted not to allow Aretha Franklin‘s granddaughter to move on.
When Grace Franklin, 15, introduced herself and revealed she was related to the Queen of Soul, the judges – Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan – were definitely impressed.
“Stop right there! That’s your grandma!?” Richie, 72, said. Luke Bryan, 45, was also in awe.
“No one knows this about your grandma but I’m going to tell you,” said Richie. “When you were walking in the house, you think, ‘Oh we gonna talk about music, are we gonna talk about the arrangement?’ And she goes, ‘Lionel, I’ve got some collard greens I’ve made.'”
Richie continued: “You are from a blessed family. I have many messages on my answering machine [from Aretha] that I kept.”
“Is it true she kept a little pistol in her purse!?” Katy, 37, asked.
“No, she did keep her purse all the time,” Grace said, which Lionel agreed with.
“What’s in the purse?” Katy asked, to which Grace replied, “The money.”
Aretha was known to keep tens of thousands of dollars in her purse because she didn’t trust banks.
Grace then sang “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” but the judges were not moved.
“It was all a little sleepy and subdued to me,” Luke said.
“It was soft,” Katy agreed, but she wanted to give Grace another chance. She asked Grace if she had another song to sing, and the teen said she could sing her grandma’s song, “Ain’t No Way.”
Richie then said:
“I’m going to talk to you as Uncle Richie and your grandma talking to me. Her line was, ‘If you’re not ready for me baby, don’t come near me.’ Now, you’re 15, you’ve got the family lineage, OK? What we need to do is put time and some work in to get it up to par, OK?'”
Katy begged her co-star to reconsider.
“Give her a shot, give her a chance. I’m sure Aretha wasn’t Aretha when she walked into the room but somebody said ‘Yes, I want to work with you, I want to develop you, you’ve got something!’ She’s got stardust on her!”
But Richie was not swayed.
Katy got up and walked off the set:
“I will lay down on the ground, I quit this show! I’m going to the bar. Something wrong with your ears! You all are insane!!”
Watch the video below:
