Fans are so upset with Ryan Seacrest after this week’s episode of American Idol. The host made a joke about substance abuse that everyone found tone-deaf and inappropriate.
The whole incident played out after country singer Chayce Beckham was named the winner of season 19, and performed his first song of the night. Before the performance, the show played a short segment detailing Beckham’s background story, touching on issues the 24-year-old had faced with alcohol abuse in his past.
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After Beckham’s performance, American Idol judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie commended Beckham and praised his talent. Bryan commented that he would like to take Beckham on a fishing trip to celebrate his win, and then Seacrest made his tone-deaf joke.
"You know there’s gonna be beer involved if you’re fishing with Luke!" Searest said.
Fans took to Twitter to slam Ryan Seacrest, arguing that it is inappropriate to joke about drinking beer to a recovering alcoholic - particularly after a reel showing his past struggles had been played.
Plus, Beckham had spoken frequently about his recovery from alcohol abuse during the show. Previously on this season, the singer had mentioned that he hit his “rock bottom” after he was involved in a car accident due to his drinking.
“Pretty sure Ryan Seacrest just encouraged a recovering alcoholic to drink beer,” one fan wrote on Twitter. Another wrote, “Did Ryan forget he’s a recovering alcoholic?”
"How insensitive to mention drinking to a sober young man, really @RyanSeacrest, it was just in his promo. Way to handle it Chayce!,” wrote another.
Some have speculated whether Seacrest didn’t know about Beckham’s past, despite the story being told so regularly on American Idol. It is possible that the video didn’t play in the studio where the show was filming, and that the host may have missed the scenes when Beckham shared his story as he was attending to his own work during the show.
