american idol

Ellen DeGeneres Hated Being a Fake-Mean Judge on American Idol

Ellen’s just too nice. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Everyone has their regrets, even Ellen DeGeneres. The daytime talk-show host appeared on Howard Stern’s show Tuesday, and was forced to admit that she made a huge mistake in agreeing to judge American Idol’s ninth season. “That’s one of the worst decisions I’ve made,” she says. Ellen only judged the show for one season after Paula Abdul left, and now we know why her stay was so short. No surprise, Ellen’s not that great at pretending to be mean to people or killing someone’s pop-star dreams for ratings. She tells Stern: “As a fan of the shows, it doesn’t matter that I sing or I know anything about pitch or anything, I’m like everybody else at home. It’s American Idol … So I thought I’m gonna represent those people at home that have opinions. But then I just thought … I can’t break this person’s heart. Let somebody else do that.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Ellen talked about having Caitlyn Jenner on her show and why she felt the need to challenge Jenner’s conflicting views on same-sex marriage. “I said, ‘You’re wanting people to understand and accept you — this is like, really confusing to people. And you still have a judgment about gay people and marriage.’ She goes, ‘Well if the word marriage is that important.’ It is, because that’s the word.”

Ellen Really Hated Being an American Idol Judge