Jennifer Lopez is the New Idol Judge Also Rumors that Steven Tyler Has Been Also Been Tapped
UPDATE: Associated Press is confirming that Jennifer Lopez “is close to signing a deal” with FOX.
Also, they are reporting that Ellen Degeneres had signed a 2 year deal with Idol, rather than a 5-year as had been widely reported.
People magazine, ET and OK Magazine are also citing sources confirming the story.
FOX and Jennifer’s reps have yet to comment on the story.
This just in from Deadline Hollywood:
EXCLUSIVE: We’ve just learned the backstory of how Ellen DeGeneres bowed out of American Idol and who will be its new judge taking her place: Jennifer Lopez, who’s singing and acting career has been on the skids after her recent movies failed at the box office and she was dropped by her record company Sony. We hear her manager Benny Medina, whom she once fired, orchestrated the meeting with the American Idol producers a month ago, and negotiations have been ongoing ever since. We’ve learned a deal was closed earlier this week under the utmost secrecy. Still to be decided is who will replace Simon Cowell. Everyone associated with the show wants Elton john, but we hear he’s asking for too much money and has too many touring commitments he can’t get out of.
Ellen went to Idol execs two months ago. “She’s not comfortable. She’s not happy. It’s not been fun.”
But Rice and Darnell felt that with Cowell leaving, “We can’t let you out now because it would be bad for our franchise. Give us a chance to figure out who we could get.”
In the end, it all worked out. “Peter Rice is awesome” and “Ellen is thrilled and relieved.” DH says serious conversations took place between Idol and Jessica Simpson to replace Ellen. But “once Jennifer was locked in this week, the DeGeneres announcement went out.”
Also, Access Hollywood is reporting that rocker Steven Tyler has met with Idol execs “several times.”
Gossip Cop reports that Tyler has been offered a job along with JLo…
I vaguely remember Jennifer as mentor back in Season 6. She could not have been that memorable. Here’s my recap of Season 6 Top 8. Jennifer mentored the kids for “Latin Night”. I think she was nice and sweet enough, but not overwhelmingly helpful
Posted in American Idol
83 Responses to “Jennifer Lopez is the New Idol Judge Also Rumors that Steven Tyler Has Been Also Been Tapped”
Ellen was a terrible judge; so glad everyone decided to part ways. Now if we could just get rid of Kara too . . . and Randy.
J Lo sounds about right, given the audience we’re talking about. No need to actually be able to sing live if you’re hot and can dance.
Steven Tyler? Oh, that should be entertaining. Will they do a mandatory urine test before the show each week?
LOL! Well they didn’t appear to do them while Paula was on the show, so why now?
Seriously, I loved Paula as a judge despite her wackiness, or maybe because of her wackiness, but mostly because I think she’s a good judge of talent. It’s hard for me to comment on other options because judging talent isn’t easy, and isn’t always easily done by people who have talent.
I think they should have gotten a music executive to be a judge. Someone like Tommy Mottola or L.A. Reid. It would have given the show some credibility.
I think it would be great to get a music executive as long as that person can also be a TV personality. I’m not sure Tommy Mottola fits that bill.
Please…will somebody confirm will it be 3 judges or 4 judges? I don’t see Steven Tyler being a judge at all…better to have Bret Michaels.
As for JLo, when she mentored, she also performed in Spanish and Simon gave her a great compliment for the performance. However, there were some peeps who didn’t like that she sang in Spanish, altho her CD was in Spanish.
And this would be a good career move for her. It could be a move into TV, where she would probably fit better than the movies. She doesn’t have a “failed” career or on the “skids” career….she’s having a normal over-40 y.o. female career…almost every singer/actress who is over 40 sees their star dim.
Betcha her manager, Bennie Medina just earned his 30%. You guys should read up on her Mgr, Bennie Medina — he used to manage Mariah….very interesting entanglement of business.
I think JLo might bring back to the show what Paula did, her experience as a performer. I think that, though Paula does know how to look for star quality and I’m not sure if JLo has that too.
I love Steven Tyler, in fact, I’m a fan of Aerosmith, but I’m not sure how he will be as a judge. Though, I would like to see a judge on the show who really understands rock. I’m not sure how he would be at advising the contestants.
I think the remaining spot should be someone who is from the management or record company side of the business like Simon was. Even though his comments were rough, it shows what a record exec was thinking, and the contestants that did well were able to get something out of this. I think Sharon Osbourne would be terrific as a judge, because she understands the management side of the music industry. Also, she understands all kinds of music. I think that was one of the things about Simon, is that he didn’t always seem to understand all the genres of music that were on the show, in particular, for rock and country, and I’ve seen Sharon Osbourne judge both. And she does have some experience judging AGT,and the British X factor, which I think is needed because they will also have another new judge.
If I were picking the judges, I would go with Randy, JLo and Sharon Osbourne. I don’t really think Kara adds anything to the judging. I think they really need judges that could give constructive critism to the contestants, and I don’t think we had that as much last year, and that was part of the problem.
Oh MJ you must be going crazy with all these updates, one contradicting the next. So Nigel will Exec Prod. JLO and either Stevie T or Jess Simp and then Randy and Kara? Hmmmm…this is just over the top unbelievable. I want some guys/gals in there that have produced and know how to give criticism. One thing Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox have said over and over is that Simon was the most helpful of ALL the judges, he kept it real, and told them like it is..no sugar coating crap. Well we will have to wait till Monday. Looks like there going for who would be popular with the fans, instead of who can give criticism. I would rather see someone like Gene Simmons who at least knows music, found allot of bands, and has produced. Oh well, either way, the show will go on.
J. Lo is kinda hot, can she judge in a bikini or something?
Okay, I honestly don’t know if she has what it takes because I barely know of anything she does except sing. I dunno much else, but just being a singer isn’t enough. Hopefully she brings it.
I agree with a music executive with a TV personality becoming a new judge. Personally, I’m on board with Nigel but probably just because no judging panel is complete without the British judge >_>.
A clean judge sweep would be interesting, but CHEMISTRY is very key. You could have the best judges but no chemistry, the show wouldn’t be very cool.
I reread the reports and I am not sure Nigel L. has ever agreed to judge, just produce, and he is most definately on board for that. He has stated that he is for a 3 panel judging system, not 4. So, we will have to see…it may be only 3 judges, unless again, they do one permanent judge, and one guest judge that rotates in and out every week. Perhaps the rotating judge would also help mentor the Idols with their songs like Harry Connick Jr.-also something that Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox really appreciated. I agree that JLo while talented just may not really be able to judge the way say, Gene Simmons, or as mentioned Sharon Osborne could. But neither of those have been mentioned. Steven Tyler is actually a really good choice-I believe, like Gene Simmons, he has founded bands, or at least produced. The very first Album I ever bought was “Toys In the ATtic” which came out in the 70’s. He has experience. Again we will see:)
Steven Tyler can’t seem to go to his own shows.
JLo never had a tour and never sang live because, well, she can’t sing.
Somebody is on drugs. Maybe Steven is sharing.
Somebody cue the theme music for the movie JAWS. American Idol has officially jumped the shark. And drowned. Miserably.
This has to be the end of the show as we once knew it.
Pass the tissues. :{
This. Pretty much. Although I won’t be needing the tissues…the only way I was really gonna bother with this show any more was if they made some real changes and actually created a meaningful judging panel – not just some famous names, but people who could (and would) tell it like it is to the contestants, performance wise. Yes, I realize no matter what TPTB were still going to have their hand in things, obviously, but the show needs to at least on the surface be about the music and the contestants. Here’s just another famous name on the judging panel that likely won’t contribute anything of value as far as meaningful critique.
But anyways…let’s see. S10 – lowering of minimum age, bringing in an all star entertainment industry judging panel. We get a couple of Justin Bieber/Miley Cyrus/Taylor Swift types, plus some of the usual AI types. Judges prop them up even though only maybe a couple of them can sing marginally well. Going into top 12, all but about 3-4 of the teen contestants get eliminated/crash and burn in Hollywood (and the ones that go on probably weren’t the best ones from the previous weeks anyways), and sometime during the first few weeks of the finals (the top 12, 11, 10, somewhere in there), a WGWG captures the hearts of the traditional AI voter block. Girls in their late teens through women in their 30s and 40s power vote them through to the final. They win. It’s David Cook, Kris Allen, and Lee DeWyze all over again. Judges don’t change a thing, except possibly for the worse, because for the most part they’ll just be the mouthpieces of TPTB.
I think we’re gonna need a bigger boat.
After several months, I am now convinced that Idol jumped the shark when Miley mentored. It just keeps getting worse.
A singer out of tune winning the season confirmed it.
On J Lo…I wish she used that time to make movies. Her romantic comedies are guilty pleasures. As a judge? No relevance at all.
I’m gonna miss Ellen. Yep, I am.
It seems the bloodbath continues…
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/07/american-idol-kara-dioguardi-reportedly-out-in-judge-shake-up.html
Yipeeeee!
As for Jlo frankly I think it’s inspired. She was a pretty good damn mentor when she did idol. She’s a triple threat, at least. Singer, dancer, actress. More than that she is a full fledged star. On the wane or not, she definitely fills the void Paula left. She’s telegenic. She’s articulate. Far more than Kara or Ellen. I don’t see a jump the shark at all. I see wow, why didn’t I think of that? No hot commodity is going to do this show. JT? Seriously? Madonna, get the f&^k out of here! Elton? Bwahhhaaa. This is as good as it’s gonna get, and I ain’t hatin’ on it.
ITS OVER! Might as well bring Alex Lambert in to judge-his wild antics-like those displayed on IICD-would at least bring some entertainment value…
Wow, when I read all the news regarding Idol, it made my day. Ellen, the most useless judge ever gone and the ever annoying Kara fired. Good riddance. Not sure about the J-Lo decision but who knows – frankly anyone would be better than the ones leaving. Here’s hoping the newbies will be able to pick better hopefuls out there than the crew from last season.
I never even thought about JLo as judge, but I kind of like the idea. I don’t really know her music much, but she has been in the business for a long time and I liked the movies she has been in (The Wedding Planner, Enough, Angel Eyes, Selena come to mind) I think she is a good actress. And she was backup dancer for Janet Jackson. She has a sweet disposition like Paula does, so it would definitely add a bit of what seemed to be missing this past season after Paula left. All in all, I think she will be a good addition.
WOW just wow! I have Fox 5 news on and they’re running the story about Kara being fired and they said sources close to Idol said the new panel will be Randy, JLo and Steven Tyler going back to the 3 judge format.
eta: I like JLo and ITA that I dont think her coming on is a sign of the show jumping the shark. IMO this show badly needed a overhaul and star power with Simon gone. I’m sure Jennifr knows more about music than Ellen.
Bye Kara. I’m glad she’s gone as well. Three judges sounds fine but I’d sh*tcan JLo and bring back Paula. Randy, Paula and Steven Tyler would be an interesting threesome. They can bring on a fourth judge for certain genres.
Where is the heavyweight to replace Simon? Certainly not Steven Tyler who couldn’t be counted on even by his own band. In order to earn respect, somebody should be respectable. Steven Tyler isn’t!
I’m pretty pleased with the JLo pick. And now, with it looking that Kara might be gone, it makes even more sense. Kara, imo, wanted to be the top female on the panel. With Kara gone, we won’t have to watch her compete with another female panel member any more. Sounds good (if it turns out to be true). She’s been a bad fit from the the get go. Randy isn’t of much use, critique-wise, but he has been with it since the beginning, so he’s probably valuable as an original panel member to AI during this shake up. He should stay (for now). Ellen is a sweetie, but you could tell she wasn’t comfortable, so glad she bowed out gracefully. Not feeling it for Tyler, probably because I see him as a performer and haven’t heard him talk in interviews much. JLo in, Kara out….good cast decision.
Actually bringing back AI alum as rotating judges would work for me.
Adam Lambert would be good as someone mentioned and I think Taylor Hicks would be very good. Kellie Pickler and Clay AIken would be funny…. Actually now that I think about it a lot of the AI alum would be much more entertaining than what we’ve had. We just need a Simon like AI alum.
Good point, although I’d love to see them all (and more) do mentoring spots.
Newyorican Sonia Sotomayor joined the Supreme Court earlier this year. Its only fitting that a Newyorican joins this other judging panel …
Don’t shoot me, but Kara was starting to grow on me. She had some pretty honest and good advice for the contestants this past season. Well, except for depending on how you felt about the whole “take off your shirt Casey” thing.
Ellen needed to go, she clearly was uncomfortable giving bad news.
I think Steven Tyler will be good! He’s OTT, experienced, and, he’ll be safer physically as a judge, won’t fall off any stages hopefully!
Rotating judge seat with AI winners and celebrities would a great idea. That way former AI Top 10’s get new publicity, and could still mentor. Adam was the best mentor last season, in my opinion.
Oh, and if Randy stays, somebody please introduce him to a Thesaurus. Dawg! UGH!!
I like that idea of a AI alum rotating judge, but they just can’t pick just any former Idols. It doesn’t do the new Idols any good if they get someone who will pat them on the head and just say the positive. They need someone who will tell them if they need to step their game up and work on their vocals, or call them boring if the shoe fits.
Never warmed up to Kara – really hoping for a 3 judge panel as well. I liked Ellen for comic relief, but that’s all. JLo I think is a good Paula replacement. I agree someone from the record biz should replace Simon.
I’m gonna give J-Lo some props here. She’s very bright, she can be extremely funny (guest hosting on the George Lopez show, she was a hoot), and though she isn’t a huge vocal talent she knows the music biz. She’s a total clothes horse, so her outfits are going to be swell. She’s married to a fantastic singer, Marc Anthony, so he might show up now and again. She’s warm and bubbly.
my memory of her mentoring was that she was pretty good. She got Lakisha to dance, and glam up, and she helped get a really good performance of Marc’s “I Need to Know” from Blake, which I think revved up Blake’s standing.
Look, if I had my way they’d have Harry Connick or someone else with really top-notch musical ability who could give these kids more technical and repertoire advice. But in the Paula/diva slot, J Lo could be just dandy.
I don’t have the Paula nostalgia. Yeah she was wacky, and sometimes that was fun, but she often made me nuts….
I don’t have the recording to check, but I remember Ellen herself saying she had a 5-year contract when she was on Larry King with the other judges.
I was not impressed with JL when she was a mentor and I am very disappointed that she has been selected as a judge. Ellen never seemed to fit and her comments were just meaningless IMO. I would bet that the recent AI online survey netted a low rating for Kara and Ellen. I am wondering if Ellen didn’t resign as a preemptive strike. Kara was so annonying and I am not sad to see these two gone. And frankly, it is not surprising. The judges make the show interesting and I just don’t see any excitement with the ones rumored to have been selected and I see the ratings slipping even more. Three judges I favor for sure. I thought it was a mistake when they brought Kara in. By By AI. I believe I am done if these rumors prove to be true with the new judges.
Hmm. Interesting. I haven’t watched that closely since season 7. I’m glad the show is making some major changes. I adore Ellen. But she wasn’t the right fit. I admire her classy exit.
Why is Randy staying? The only thing I can figure is the producers want at least 1 old face on the panel. I don’t have a problem with the JLo choice. She’s arguably been more successful than Paula was, at least in terms of being a multifaceted entertainer. Everyone can knock her for being subpar at singing and acting. But when was Paula ever considered a great singer? She was selected because she was a pop star who had become irrelevant to some degree, but still had cred in terms of being a pop star–which is still probably the ultimate contestant Idol will always continue to try to find. And I think JLo still has some major star wattage even if she’s not scoring hits with the young crowd and going through a bit of a slump with movies.
I’m less enthusiastic about Steven Tyler as a judge. He’s even less relevant, at least in terms of appealing to a more youthful demo. Unless there is some major personality from him I haven’t seen other than his stage persona, I’m not buying him as being charismatic enough to fill the “Simon spot.” Granted, that’s a tough chair to fill.
All in all, I’m cautiously optimistic.
I think we can all agree that 4 judges just didn’t work and more time was spent on the “judges” than the actual contestants and that cut in their time for performances where in a 3-judge past they sang more songs and had more of a chance to prove their stuff. Nigel hated the four-judge panel so I doubt he’ll go for it now. I don’t think Steven Tyler would be a good choice. Here they are lowering the contestants’ age and looking at a judge who is 62. Not that I think that’s old but it’s ancient to the tweens. How relevant can he be? J-Lo would be a bad choice. She wasn’t that good a mentor and her career is definitely seen it’s heyday and she’d be a “Paula.” All in all, it’s not looking good. Let’s face it anyone who would be good probably already has a great career and they don’t need A.I. which is a full-time commitment for most of the year. It would be a career-killer.
That is too funny! Three people who didn’t win and one who did but isn’t considered an A.I. success story. If someone is relatively successful as an A.I. past contestant, then they can kiss their career goodbye because A.I. is a full-time job and too many past “Idols” are persona-non-grata.