Katy Perry recently announced that this coming "American Idol" season will be her last. The pop star's been part od the three-member judges' panel with Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie ever since "Idol" moved from Fox to ABC in 2018.
Richie appeared Thursday (Feb. 15) on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to promote "Idol's" Feb. 18 return for its 22nd overall season. During the interview, Kimmel asked Richie about Perry's impending exit.
"It just made me run off the road when I first heard about it," Richie said of Perry's announcement. "My phone blew up."
Although he'll miss his longtime colleague, Richie understands Perry's need to pursue other projects.
"No, we didn't know about it, but it makes sense," Richie said. "In other words: The reason I love coming on the show with you and the reason I'm doing American Idol is because I have 400 years of stories and a life in the music business. I have things that I've done.
"And so when Katy says, 'I want to go and create some stories,' remember, she's young," Richie continued. "But the point is that you have to take some time and actually be an artist."
Now, Richie joins the rest of us in wondering who'll replace Perry.
"You know, they are keeping tight-lipped because I don't even know, but I'm telling you... It's gonna be really interesting." he explained. "Only because, I'm telling you something, this is a great show. And what I love most of all is that we're artists, so we know what we're talking about, and these kids are scared to death, so I love sitting there as the wise poo-bahs, the three of us, and we're sitting there and we're all kind of giving information that we know is real."
