Pop star Jennifer Lopez on Friday said her
judging days are over on TV singing contest “American Idol,” following Steven Tyler out the door and signaling a major shakeup in the top-rated show that has seen its viewership slump in recent years.
Lopez, who joined the show two seasons ago but recently has indicated a desire to move on, told “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest in a radio interview that it was time to go.
“I just don’t feel like I can be there every single day all the time like I have been for the past two years,” Lopez told Seacrest, citing other business commitments and her duties as a mom raising two twins.
“You dread a conversation like this,” she told Seacrest. “I honestly feel like the time has come that I have to get back to doing the other things that I do, that I’ve put kind of on hold because I like ‘Idol’ so much,” she said.
Seacrest’s radio sidekick, Ellen K., said “it sounds like you’ve made up your mind,” and Lopez replied. “Yeah.”
Lopez, 42, is on concert tour this summer with Latin singer Enrique Iglesias and has two movies in theaters – “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and “Ice Age: Continental Drift”.
The loss of Lopez and Tyler portends a major shakeup on the show that has become a cash cow for Fox, generating $700 million in advertising sales in 2011, according to consultant Kantar Media.
Forbes.com calculated that “Idol” was the most profitable show on TV in 2011, generating some $6.64 million in ad revenue for every half hour it aired.
May’s season finale drew 21.2 million viewers, well off its highs of more than 30 million in its heyday. Overall, it’s viewership was down 30 percent from the 2010 season. (Reuters)