John Shearer/Getty Images via ABCLast year, when ABC announced that it was bringing back American Idol, there were rumors that the show was asking former contestants to serve as judges, including Chris Daughtry. Chris heard the rumors too — and he admits he was a little disappointed that they didn’t turn out to be true.
Speaking to the Miami Herald-Tribune, Chris says, “I never got a phone call about it. I had kind of wrapped my head around the idea that would be a really fun thing to do, so I was optimistic about the opportunity. But it never happened.”
But Chris says he’ll definitely be tuning in when ABC’s reboot debuts March 11 — and there’s one change he’d like to see.
“My personal opinion is, in a time when there are so many great artists out there that are just dying to be discovered, I feel like…all the making fun of people needs to go,” he says.
“I think it’s a waste of their time. I think it’s a waste of everyone else’s time watching,” Chris adds. “Make it about the competition. Let’s not exploit the people that are out there making jacka**es out of themselves.”
In fact, ABC execs have already said that they’re through airing intentionally bad auditions.
As for Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Katy Perry, Chris says, “I think it’s a very interesting judge panel…to me on paper, it looks cool. It looks like it should work. But you never know until you kind of see how they all interact together.”
Meanwhile, Chris is focused on the new Daughtry album, due out later this year, and a headlining tour that kicks off March 7. Speaking about the album, Chris tells the paper, “I think it’s a very nice, natural evolution of the band.”
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