The sweet, soft-spoken preacher’s son from Westlake, Louisiana, Joshua Ledet, had his run for the American Idolcrown unexpectedly cut one week too short tonight. After his elimination, Joshua broke down on stage but the cameras kept rolling even though the show had gone off the air.
What the live audience did not see is Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler rushing to the stage after Joshua sang his swan song of It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World, trying to console a rightfully-saddened and shocked Ledet.
Lopez reminded Joshua that she told him he’s the best singer she’s seen in 50 years. “In the past 50 years, there’s been nobody like you…I’ve seen the best performers, I’ve seen them up close.” She asked, “Do you know how many singers we see?” She then added that because of all the pain he is feeling right now, he’s going to be able to put all that emotion and write some beautiful music and change the world. Jackson then told Joshua, “The sky is the limit for you.”
Watch what happened after American Idol ended tonight:
After some time has passed, Joshua seems to now be taking his loss in stride. In his official exit interview, Josh says, “I feel at peace with everything…and now that I am eliminated, I feel like I am out of this bubble and I am free….That Idol stage is going to hold a lot of great memories.”
