American Idol 2023: Top 26 dropout Beckett Rex confirms Identity, says “It was my choice.”
We identified the American Idol season 21 Top 26 contestant who dropped out of the competition last week. Based on spoilers, we knew that Paige Anne competed in the Top 26, despite the judges sending her home the week before during “final judgement.” Photos from the Disney press site and a celebration clip clearly revealed a red headed singer whom Idol never featured on the show.
Based on spoilers, that singer was obviously Beckett Rex (big thanks to Blake Busch who did the research!). He’s a 19 year old singer and the son of acclaimed British actor, Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Star Trek Generations, The Artist, Halloween).
“I’m not going to say why I didn’t decide to continue in the competition”
After the American Idol Top 26 Night 2 episode aired on Monday (April 17) in which Paige Anne performed after the judges eliminated her the week before, Beckett confirmed he left the competition on Instagram Stories:
“To all of you wondering, yes I was on @americanidol and I made the top 26,” He continued, “I’m not going to say why I didn’t decide to continue in the competition but what I will say is that it was my choice.” He has nothing bad to say about the show. “I am forever grateful to my American idol family and I will always look back at the experience with the utmost gratitude and fondness. Please go vote for my friends now as they continue on in the competition.”
On a previous story, Beckett noted that he left American Idol for “legal reasons.”
When Ryan explained that Paige Anne returned to the competition, he only said that a contestant “decided to bow out” without identifying the singer or any further explanation.
TheIdolSpoilers.com identified Beckett as one of the Top 55 singers competing in the Showstopper round. We wrote about him HERE.
For his part, Beckett released a new single in February called “Wildfire.” The singer wrote on Instagram, “HELLO EVERYONE! I’m so very excited to announce I’m releasing my third single, “WILDFIRE” on February 10th. @pierrebouvier and I worked incredibly hard on all of these songs and we are both insanely proud of the hard work we put in on them. You can pre save wildfire in my linktree in my bio! I can’t wait!!!!”
Beckett is son of British actor Malcolm McDowell
According to Wikipedia, Malcolm married Kelley Kuhr, 24 years his junior, in 1991, and are still married to each other. “They live in Ojai, California, and have three sons together: Beckett McDowell (born 18 January 2004), Finnian (born 23 December 2006), and Seamus (born 7 January 2009).”
Here is a photo of a young Beckett with his father, from the singer’s Instagram account.
Why do American Idol contestants drop out?
American Idol singers drop out for various reasons. Usually the artists decide the competition isn’t for them. Or they are offered better deals outside of the Idol ecosystem. Or sometimes, it’s not clear why a singer doing well in the competition decides to leave.
