American Idol Reboot Suffers Wage Dispute

The reboot of American Idol seems to be finalized and ready to start the production process. With ABC picking up the universal singing competition now that Fox is done with it, everyone is getting ready to see what talent this season will bring.

It was previously announced that Pop star, Katy Perry, and Country music singer, Luke Bryan, would be joining the show as two of this seasons judges and according to ABC they have recently added musical hit legend, Lionel Richie to the reboot; But it seems that Richie may be getting paid the least for his position as a judge.

The team behind the upcoming talent competition seems to have caused some monetary issues as they initially dealt out a hefty $25 million to their first official judge (Perry), causing Idol Vet, Ryan Seacrest, to suffer a $15 million budget cut leaving fewer than $10 million for Richie.

“ABC was originally going to spend no more than $50 million on talent. They had to expand their budget for Lionel,” one TV insider told Page Six. “Ben Sherwood blew the budget on Katy without thinking how that would impact other areas of the show budget. He gambled on her because of her appeal to a younger audience and huge social-media following. But Katy is effectively taking money from the other judges, who then had to be paid way less.” ABC initially offered Richie and Bryan a measly $2.5 million each to take the gig, but both singers demanded more, and refused to sign their deals, which postponed ABC’s big talent announcement.

Considering Richie is a musical genius and mentor, fans were confused and outraged at his low pay check, however Richie and ABC both seem to have finally been able to come to an agreement. He told Entertainment Weekly that he was excited to be joining Katy, Luke, and Ryan on the show. He added, “as a singer, songwriter, and producer, I feel I can bring a great deal of experience to the table. It’s going to be so much fun!”

Sources say that this is a very expensive show and if it doesn’t do well, it can leave Sherwood in a huge pool of dept.