‘American Idol’ Contestant Defends Katy Perry: She’s ‘Not A Bully’

One of this season's top American Idol contestants has defended Katy Perry from some of the hate she has been receiving. Recent reports circulating online have been insinuating that the "Roar" singer is considering leaving the singing competition due to all the backlash.

Oliver Steele, who finished in the top 8 of the show's latest season came to her defense on Instagram recently, sharing photos with Perry, 38. Steele addressed the "rumors" surrounding the judge and his personal experience with her. "Katy is not a bully, nor does she shame people," he began his caption.

He recalled "being nervous" at various points in the season. "Katy has an incredible ability to not just tell what emotional state you’re in, but to be able to tell what’s holding you back," he wrote. "I love all the judges, but Katy always seemed to be able to look into my soul and tell exactly what was troubling me, or what it was I was struggling with."

Steele continued, "It’s one thing to teach someone to believe in their ability, which the judges are fabulous at. Katy reminded me to believe in who I am as an artist. She challenged me to push myself, to take on challenges that made me uncomfortable." He expressed feeling like "a better musician and artist after Katy Perry pushed me to believe in my potential and to exceed my expectations."

At the end of his caption, Steele directly addressed Perry. "I dunno if you’ll see this, but I hope you stay on American Idol," he said. "You’re a guiding light, an incredible teacher. And you made me believe that I am my own hero. Thank you for everything."

Perry's first controversy of the season happened during auditions when she joked that contestant Sara Beth Liebe — a mother of three children — had been "laying on the table too much." Liebe, 25, accused Perry of "mom-shaming" in a TikTok (which has since been deleted) and later quit the competition, though the "Firework" singer tried to convince her to stay. She later expressed gratitude toward the show and Perry, seemingly leaving on good terms.

Then in April, Perry was booed for the first time after advising that contestant Nutsa Buzaladze to wear less glitter on stage. "Nutsa, every time you take the stage, it’s like you glitter bomb the stage," she said. "Listen, I think one thing I personally would like to see from you is not one piece of glitter the next time. I know that’s gonna be hard."

2013 was such a good year for pop music. Drake, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Lorde, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry and Britney Spears all had new albums that dominated the airwaves. We're definitely still listening to a lot (okay, most) of these pop hits from 2013, which turn ten years old in 2023!

Take a look below at some of 2013's biggest hits:

Bieber lent his voice on this dance track off of will.i.am's fourth studio album, #willpower.

This R&B hit is from Legend's fourth studio album, Love in the Future. The album was executive produced by Legend, Kanye West and Dave Tozer, featuring guest appearances from Kimbra, Rick Ross, Stacy Barthe and Seal.

"Applause" was Gaga's lead single from her third studio album, Artpop. Gaga began planning the project in 2011, shortly after the launch of her second effort, Born This Way.

Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" became the subject of a legal dispute with the family of Marvin Gaye and Bridgeport Music, who argued the song infringed on copyrights to Gaye's 1977 single "Got to Give It Up." On top of that, model Emily Ratajkowski accused Thicke of sexually assaulting her on the music video set, alleging that he groped her bare breasts from behind during the filming.

"Dark Horse" is from Perry's fourth studio album, Prism, which was initially planned to be "darker" than her previous material. Prism ultimately became a prominently dance-inspired record.

Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album gave us this awesome collab with husband Jay-Z as well as "Partition," "Pretty Hurts," "XO" and "Flawless."

Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" is from their fourth (and seemingly final) studio album, inspired by late '70s and early '80s American music from Los Angeles.

"Heart Attack" comes from Demi's fourth studio album Demi, where she wanted to change her sound from her self-described "generic" third album Unbroken. Lovato wanted her fourth album to "have songs that excited her."

Disclosure's Settle album is the electronic music duo's best musical work by far, with "Help Me Lose My Mind" being the best of all.

Drake's third studio album Nothing Was the Same gave us all his best hits with "Started From The Bottom," "Worst Behavior," and "All Me."

Chris Brown had dudes all over singing "These girls ain't loyal" all year long in 2013.

From Timberlake's third studio album The 20/20 Experience, "Mirrors" is the far superior song choice to his collab with Jay-Z, "Suit & Tie." Though the music video for "Suit & Tie" was great, the song is quite annoying. "Mirrors" is a song for the ages.

Lorde emerged on the music scene with Pure Heroine and gave us an amazing debut album. "Royals" made her a star pretty quickly.

Every time the weather gets below 70 degrees, this song is sure to come on.

Mac Miller and Ariana Grande met in 2012 when the two covered “Baby It's Cold Outside.” A year later, they collaborated again in "The Way," from Grande's debut studio album Yours Truly. The two didn't start dating until August 2016 and ended the relationship in May 2018.

"The Worst" is arguably the best song off of Aiko's debut EP Sail Out. The album has notable features with Vince Staples, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and Ab-Soul.

We love how this song has made its comeback on TikTok with hilarious videos of people walking "a mile in these Louboutins."

This is the best song to work out to. Thank you, Britney Spears!

You could not escape this song in 2013 even if you tried. From the memes to the media fixation with Miley Cyrus during this era, "Wrecking Ball" will forever be a part of pop culture history.

Sad girl Lana Del Rey walked so that girls like Phoebe Bridgers and Olivia Rodrigo could run.