Andy DehnartJennifer Lopez finally formally quit American Idol on Friday, 24 hours after giving another obnoxiously coy statement about her alleged indecision. She told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show that she was leaving and blamed her children: “As the kids get a little bit bigger it started feeling like it was a lot and something had to give.”
Her stalling and ambivalence might have been genuine, but also could be read as a negotiation tactic, and one report says she was angling for more cash to stay–but Fox decided she was out. The Wrap reports that she “was actually dumped by Fox when she asked for a $2 million raise in salary to $17 million,” and “Fox also opted not to pick up Steven Tyler’s option” because “Fox executives Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly want to revamp the show, and that Rice has told colleagues he wants an ‘Idol 2.0,’ of which host Ryan Seacrest would be the only essential ingredient.”
With Seacrest in–essential? I suppose. He’s excellent at his job. But meh.–that leaves only Randy Jackson. I’d guess he’ll exit, too, and the new judges will take the show in a different kind of direction. Teen pop stars? Or something ridiculous and dumb, such as Charlie Sheen and Jerry Lewis?