'American Idol' hopeful calls kiss with Katy Perry 'uncomfortable'
Benjamin Glaze said he'd wanted to "save it for my first relationship."
After "American Idol" hopeful Benjamin Glaze told judge Katy Perry that he had never been kissed in the show's premiere episode, she surprised him by planting one on his lips before his audition.
In a new interview with The New York Times, Glaze acknowledged that while some men would have been thrilled to share that moment with the pop star, he isn't one of them.
Explaining that the kiss made him "a tad bit uncomfortable," the 20-year-old cashier from Enid, Oklahoma, added that he'd "wanted to save it for my first relationship."
“Would I have done it if she said, ‘Would you kiss me?’ No, I would have said no,” he said. “I was raised in a conservative family and I was uncomfortable immediately. I wanted my first kiss to be special.”
As seen in Sunday night's premiere, Glaze, who was 19 at the time of his audition, told the judges that he liked his job because it gave him license to meet "cute girls," which prompted judge Luke Bryan to ask, "Have you kissed a girl and liked it?" (One of Perry's early hits was "I Kissed a Girl.") Glaze responded that he hadn't and didn't plan to until he was attached.
Immediately, Perry beckoned him to the judge's table and surprised him with a quick kiss on the lips. The viral moment divided viewers: Some took to social media to call Glaze "lucky," though others expressed outrage that the Perry crossed a line.
Glaze, who did not make it to the next round of competition, told the Times that he did not feel sexually harassed by Perry and said he's grateful that the moment led to more publicity for his music.
He's also decided, he added, that the kiss "didn't really count."
“It was lip contact versus a romantic situation with someone you care about," he noted. "That’s what a real first kiss is.”
A representative for the show did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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