On Tuesday night's episode of America's Got Talent, a sneaky act from judge Howie Mandel led to a bit of an awkward and confusing moment during a performance from country duo Trailer Flowers.
The duo took the stage to perform an original song called "Who Are You" when, midway through the performance, it appeared as if judge Heidi Klum pressed her red 'X' button. This caused the duo's performance to be temporarily interrupted by the dissonant buzzer noise, but the duo continued singing. However, it wasn't Klum who pressed her buzzer, but rather Mandel. Klum immediately blamed Mandel after the buzzer incident, and slow-motion video confirmed the truth.
After the performance, Klum expressed her innocence to the performers, saying, "It was not me, girls!"
After the video clip confirmed Mandel's malfeasance, he tried to deny the action, but Klum — and the crowd — quickly called him out. The audience soon let out loud "boos" as Klum and Mandel continued to go back and forth over the moment.
"What is going on with you, Howie?" Klum asked. "There is an invisible line right here. This is your side, this is my side."
Once the judges finally got down to talking about the performance, Klum expressed that it wasn't her favorite. Mandel then added — a bit sarcastically — that the performance was "fantastic." Judge Sofia Vergara also shared her opinion that the performance was missing a certain something.
"There was something happening with this song that it didn't resonate to me. I didn't know what was happening," she said. "The outfits, the song. It wasn't my thing, and I love country music, by the way."
When judge Simon Cowell got a chance to speak, he expressed disappointment that the Mandel incident — which he seemed to blame on the show producers — was allowed to go on for as long as it did. He apologized to the duo that the moment took away from time in which the judges could critique the act. He then shared that while he likes the duo's Brooke and Jack as people, he wasn't too keen on the performance.
"I didn't love the song, but I do like you two," he said.
AGT fans took to social media to express disappointment in Mandel's action.
"Howie Mandel lying, pushing Heidi's buzzer, and making Heidi look bad how dare you sir!" one fan wrote.
Another fan called the judge a "negative distraction."
After hearing from the judges, the duo sent an optimistic plea to viewers to vote for them. They also caught up with People backstage where they shared their reaction to the judges' comments.
"We don't live for anyone's criticism, and so I honestly had open hands about whatever the judges may have to say," Brooke told the publication. "We respect anyone's opinion, and it's okay if we're not for everybody. So we're excited to spread country music and to keep doing our thing."
"We don't live for anybody else's validation other than Jesus Christ," added duo member Jack.
Trailer Flowers will find out their fate on the show during the live results show on Wednesday, Sept. 20, at 8PM ET on NBC.
