Katy Perry Would Have Been Paid More Money Than Mariah Carey For American Idol
August 27, 2012 by Hollywoodite
American Idol was reportedly so “desperate” to hire Katy Perry to be its second female judge that the show threw $20 million at the singer knowing she wasn’t even really interested.
Jennifer Lopez protracted negotiations past the point where Idol wanted her anymore. As such, Lopez was unceremoniously fired and replaced by Mariah Carey. Since then, this story’s devolved into rumours of whomever expressed an interest in the show that week. And it’s not even worth mentioning the male prospects, since the rumoured roster of men changes every few hours.
As recently as last week though, Us Weekly Magazine claimed to know that Nicki Minaj was being considered as the second female judge. However, TMZ.com dismisses Minaj as rumour because Idol were aggressively pursuing Perry at the same time. Reportedly, Idol offered Perry $18 million (the same first season salary as Mariah Carey), quickly raising that to $20 million when Perry said “no.” She turned them down again, however, and walked away from the deal because she’s too busy and fears it’s a poor career move for her.