SC ‘American Idol’ teen announces he’s leaving show after controversial video surfaces

South Carolina teen singer Caleb Kennedy announced on Instagram Wednesday that he is leaving “American Idol” immediately, after a controversial social media video from his past surfaced.

An old Snapchat video showed Kennedy sitting beside someone who looked like they were wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood. But Kennedy’s his mother, Anita Guy, said it was a mask made to look like a character in “The Strangers,” a movie Kennedy and a friend had just watched.

She said the video was made when her son was 12 years old in the seventh grade.

The movie spread around Kennedy’s school, Dorman High, on Tuesday, Guy said. Someone from the school sent the video to her, and she sent it to her son. They reported it to “American Idol” producers, she said.

“He’s good good kid and loves everybody,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what color they are. We all bleed the same.”

In his Instagram post announcing he would leave the show, the 16-year-old singer said the problematic video was recorded when he was “younger.”

“It displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way,” he said the post announcing his departure. “I was younger and did not think about the actions, but that’s not an excuse.”

He said he was taking time away from social media “to better myself.”

He said he knows he has hurt and disappointed many people and lost their respect.

“I’m so sorry! I pray that I can one day regain your trust in who I am and have your respect!” he said.

The news of Kennedy’s departure from “Idol” was first reported Wednesday by the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Despite how it turned out, it was an unlikely run on the show for a 16-year-old with no professional musical training other than performing in bars around Spartanburg County. He was so young, the gigs had to be booked by his mother, who works in a doctor’s office and delivers newspapers.

With Kennedy’s departure, that leaves four contestants to perform Sunday night: Casey Bishop, a 15-year-old from Estero, Florida; Chayce Beckham, 24, a heavy equipment operator from Apple Valley, California; Grace Kinstler, 20, a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music from Crystal Lake, Illinois; and Willie Spence, 21, a caretaker from Douglas, Georgia.

A native of small town Roebuck, Kennedy is a sophomore at Dorman High School, where he also attends the school’s applied technology program.

Before he played the guitar and wrote songs, he played the trumpet but didn’t like it much. He wanted a guitar and asked for money for his 13th birthday so he could buy one. He earned to play the guitar by looking up chords on his phone.

Guy said she believes the situation is a setback for her son, but knows he will bounce back.

“It’s a shame for somedoy to stoop this low because they are so jealous,” she said. “It’s very disgusting. He’s a 16-year-old kid.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 6:07 PM.