Katy Perry’s Salary Causing ‘Idol’ Drama
Katy Perry’s huge $25 million American Idol payday has been causing some major problems for the team at ABC.
According to insiders, when ABC CEO/President Ben Sherwood offered Katy her huge salary he did so, “without thinking how that would impact other areas of the show budget.” And that left producers with some major problems as they tried to sign on the other two judges, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.
“The negotiations with Luke and Lionel have been fraught and difficult because of Katy’s paycheck,” a source told The New York Post. “They expected similar deals to Katy, but are, in fact, getting a hell of a lot less.”
Luke and Lionel were originally offered only $2.5 million each but that wasn’t good enough so eventually ABC wound up paying them over $7 milion each. Guess there won’t be a fourth judge at the table this year. “This has become a very expensive show,” the source says. “If ‘Idol’ doesn’t work, it will blow up big time in Sherwood’s face. If it does work, he’s a genius.”
Will you be watching American Idol when it makes is debut on ABC next year?