‘American Idol’ contestant Caleb Kennedy has apologized and is leaving the singing competition after a video surfaced of him posing with a person in a KKK-style white hood.
Kennedy announced his departure from the long-running series, on which he was among the final five contestants, on Wednesday.
“There was a video that surfaced on the internet and it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way,” he wrote in a statement. “I was younger and did not think about the actions, but that’s not an excuse. I wanna say sorry to all my fans and everyone who I have let down.”
Kennedy had posted only a day before his announcement that he was in the studio “working on songs.”
The video of Kennedy had previously been spread around social media after being posted to YouTube.
THIS SHOULD’VE STAYED IN YOUR DRAFTS: American Idol contestant Caleb Kennedy allegedly seen in a resurfaced with someone wearing a KKK hood. Caleb is allegedly blocking anyone who mentions the video, according to multiple reports. pic.twitter.com/9OKHmvOCEB
Anita Guy, Kennedy’s mother, has pushed back against criticism of her son and calls for his cancelation, telling the Spartanburg-Herald Journal that Kennedy was only 12-years-old in the video and the hood seen on the other person is a reference to the horror film ‘The Strangers: Prey at Night’, where the killers wear white hoods on their heads.
“Caleb doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. He loves everyone and has friends of all races,” she said.
While many have accused Kennedy of racism over the past video, some have pointed to the fact that he was allegedly 12 and not the one wearing the hood in the video as reason to chalk this situation up as an example of cancel culture going too far.
“He was 12. Cancel Culture is insane,” one Twitter user wrote in the singer’s defense.
“But Chrissy Tiegen can get away with an apology for something she did as an adult,” another user tweeted, referencing 35-year-old liberal model Chrissy Tiegen apologizing this week after being accused by reality star Courtney Stodden of cyberbullying her and even suggesting she commit suicide when she was only a teenager.
Other critics mentioned other adults who appear to have escaped the cancel culture noose after stirring controversy for past remarks or actions related to race, like Governor Ralph Northam (D-Virginia), who has posed in blackface in the past, and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who has also used blackface in past skits. Both apologized for their actions, and the former remains governor while the latter continues his run as an ABC late-night host.
He was 12 years old and standing next to someone wearing some kind of hood on their head. Again, he was 12 years old.
So ABC yanks a contestant who 4 yrs ago at age 12 appeared in a video next to *someone else* wearing a mask inspired by a horror movie the mob claimed was a KKK hood...
But Jimmy Kimmel, ABC's late-night star, keeps his job after *repeatedly* wearing blackface/using the n-word? https://t.co/mGywpEez0Y
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) May 13, 2021
When American Idol contestants are held to higher standards than governors. https://t.co/jjdPyjVCfE
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