A would-be “American Idol” contestant who became famous for kissing Katy Perry on camera is in the news again, but this time for much more disturbing reasons.
Police in Oklahoma say that 26-year-old Benjamin Glaze is suspected of having child sexual abuse videos on his phone.
Glaze was 19 years old when he sang for judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and Perry on an audition episode of “American Idol.” They kissed for a short time before he sang Nick Jonas’s “Levels” at his tryout.
On Facebook, the Tulsa Police Department said that someone had been arrested.
The Tulsa Police Sexual Predator/Digital Evidence Recovery Unit (Spider Unit) got information about Benjamin Glaze’s criminal behavior in April 2024.
Glaze is a 26-year-old man who lives in Tulsa. “The report said that Mr. Glaze had CSAM (materials relating to child sexual abuse) on him.”
When the cops did their investigation and got a search warrant, they found “a smartphone that was recovered that was found to contain over 700 images and videos of child sexual abuse material.”
Glaze was caught on Friday and taken to the Tulsa County Jail. He was freed on Saturday after putting up a $50,000 bond. Oklahoma’s severe possession of child pornography law says he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
The charges are very different from the good-natured picture he put forward as a possible contestant on the popular TV singing competition.
Bryan joked that Glaze had never “kissed a girl and liked it,” which was a reference to Perry’s 2008 smash hit “I Kissed a Girl.” Glaze told Bryan that he had not, which became a popular video.
“I have never been with someone, and I can’t kiss a girl without being with someone,” he said.
Perry then waved him over to the judges’ table and leaned forward to tell him to kiss her on the cheek, which he did.
She told Glaze he “didn’t even make the smush sound” and told him to try again. The second time Glaze tried to kiss her on the cheek, she stopped him by quickly turning her face toward him and kissing him on the mouth.
When Glaze responded, she faked passing out and fell to the floor, making the judges laugh. Perry raised her hands to show she had won.
He then sang the song he had asked to sing. All three judges didn’t pick him to move on to the next round, so he didn’t.
People didn’t like Perry’s last-minute change of plans after the audition show aired. One viewer called it a “forced sexual act,” and some people on social media said that actions like that shouldn’t be okay in this day and age of the “Me Too” movement.
