He was on his way to possibly taking home the win on American Idol, but teen sensation Caleb Kennedy will no longer be involved in the singing competition series. Kennedy fought his way through hundreds of hopefuls and the 16-year-old was among the Top 5 final contestants, but a scandal arose after a video surfaced online showing the country singer next to someone wearing a Ku Klux Klan-like hood.
The New York Post reports that American Idol confirmed Kennedy’s departure and soon, he returned to his Instagram with an apology to “his fans and everyone who I have let down.”
Kennedy has wowed both judges and the public with his covers of Jason Aldean, Coldplay, and Willie Nelson hits, but it wasn’t enough to keep Idol from giving him the boot. “Hey y’all, this is gonna be a bit of a surprise but I am no longer gonna be on ‘American Idol,’” Kennedy shared on social media. “There was a video that surfaced on the internet and it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way.”
“I was younger and did not think about the actions, but that’s not an excuse,” he continued without delivering the context of the clip. “I wanna say sorry to all my fans and everyone who I have let down. I’ll be taking a little time off social media to better myself, but saying that, I know this has hurt and disappointed a lot of people and made people lose respect for me. I’m so sorry! I pray that I can one day regain your trust in who I am and have your respect! Thank you for supporting me.”
His fans have shown their support by telling Kennedy that he didn’t do anything wrong because he was reportedly a pre-teen at the time and wasn’t the person wearing the hood. Idol will return to small screens this weekend with their Top 4 finalists. It is unclear if they’ll address the controversy on air.