The day after Steven Tyler quit “American Idol,” Jennifer Lopez said she’d be leaving the show’s judges table as well.
She made it official by calling the radio show of the “American Idol” host, Ryan Seacrest, on Friday.
“You dread a conversation like this,” she said. “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 love ‘Idol’ so much.
“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 said. “I feel like I have to do other things.”
Randy Jackson, a judge since the start of “American Idol,” is now the only one left, and there were some rumblings that he would either be replaced or have another role on the show.
Some changes had been planned at “Idol” because of 23 percent drop in ratings, but the wholesale change in judges will bring the second upheaval in three years for the show, after Simon Cowell left the show.
Cowell had announced bringing new pop stars to his judges table at “The X Factor,” the fall singing showdown, Selena Gomez and Britney Spears. Another singing competition, “The Voice” has done well partly because of its pop star judges (though another show with pop singer participants, “Duets,” have not done as well).
Names from Mariah Carey to Adam Lambert have been mentioned as possible replacements for the departing “Idol” judges, though this kind of speculation could go on for the rest of the summer.
They’ll need people in place, however, by the time auditions hold call-backs in the fall.