Carrie Underwood is seemingly relishing in the boos she received on American Idol.
“Boo me. I don’t care. 😂😜🤪,” the Idol judge, 42, clapped back via X on Monday, March 2.
Underwood clashed with the live audience during each of American Idol’s “Hollywood Week: Music City Takeover” episodes during season 24. The Hollywood Week episodes — which were filmed in Nashville this season — made for awkward viewing at times since Underwood’s constructive criticism proved to be unpopular with the crowd.
“They just like to boo me,” Underwood said in Tuesday’s final “Hollywood Week: Music City Takeover” episode.
Fellow American Idol judge Luke Bryan piped up to defend the former Idol winner during one stretch of booing.
“She only won this. She knows,” Bryan, 49, admonished the crowd.
His reference to Underwood’s American Idol season 4 victory did little to quiet the backlash, leading her to warn the booing fans about interfering in the judging process.
“You’re not included in the discussions,” she told them.
The booing was particularly heavy after Idol hopeful Mor performed an original song during his “Music City Takeover” audition. When it came time for his evaluations, Underwood correctly predicted to Bryan that “they are going to boo me.”
“You guys are gonna boo me. You’re gonna boo me,” she told the crowd. “It’s coming. Bring it on. I love it! Your boos are feeding me.”
In her feedback, she argued that Mor made a mistake by trying out original material during “Hollywood Week: Music City Takeover.”
“In a room like this for you to bring an original song with that incredible band sitting behind you twiddling their thumbs, I feel like it was a missed opportunity,” she said.
Mor ultimately was still advanced to the next stage of American Idol by the judges despite Underwood’s lukewarm appraisal.
“Singing original music is SUCH a gamble at this stage in the competition. Don’t. Waste. The. Band,” Underwood insisted via X on Monday. “Mor’s voice and previous audition kept him in. I wanna hear his original music after he’s a big star!”
Underwood previously hinted that she was going to have a hostile rapport with the “Hollywood Week: Music City Takeover” crowd before the episodes even aired.
“Spoiler alert…I get booed A LOT from our Hollywood Week audience @AmericanIdol,” Underwood tweeted on February 16.
Underwood joined the American Idol judging panel for season 23 alongside Bryan and Lionel Richie, following Katy Perry’s departure after seven seasons in 2024.
“I went from nobody knowing my name to tens of million of people watching the show,” she said at the time. “I’m proud of everything that I was able to accomplish on the show and I’m so proud of everything I’ve accomplished since.”
Underwood received the backing of fellow American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, who told E! News in September 2024 that the country star was the perfect addition to the judging panel. (Clarkson has been a coach on rival competition show The Voice for 10 seasons.)
“What better person to have — somebody that’s won that show to come back,” Clarkson, 43, said at the time. “To have gone through it all and then had such a huge career like her, that’s invaluable.”
Clarkson called Underwood an “awesome pick” for Idol, adding, “To have somebody to look at and go, ‘OK, they’ve done it and they’re sitting right there. So, that means I am capable of doing it. I can dream that big.’ … I think she’s gonna do great.”
Underwood has sold more than 22.5 million albums and 72.5 million singles, making her the biggest selling female country music star of all time, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
American Idol season 24 airs Mondays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
