Despite making it to the top five, Caleb Kennedy will no longer be a part of American Idol.
Kennedy announced his withdrawal from the competition after a video surfaced online of him sitting next to someone wearing a Klu Klux Klan-style hood. As a wave of backlash ensued, Kennedy dropped out (likely with a nudge from ABC), and his performances from the show’s YouTube channel were scrubbed.
“Hey y’all, this is gonna be a bit of a surprise but I am no longer gonna be on American Idol,” Kennedy said in a statement on social media. “There was a video that surfaced on the internet and it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way. 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’s mother, Anita Guy, claimed that the video was taken when the now-16-year-old was just 12. She also said that the person in the hood was portraying a character from The Strangers: Prey at Night.
“I hate this has happened and how Caleb is being portrayed by people online,” she said in a statement to MSN. “This video was taken after Caleb had watched the movie The Strangers: Prey at Night and they were imitating those characters. It had nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan, but I know that’s how it looks. Caleb doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. He loves everyone and has friends of all races.”
The Strangers: Prey at Night does feature characters wearing different variations of white masks, but some people pointed out that they don’t resemble a KKK hood.
