Carrie Underwood claps back after being booed on ‘American Idol’

Carrie Underwood clapped back after being booed by the “American Idol” audience on Monday’s episode of the show.

The country singer clashed with the live audience after contestant Mor performed an original song during the second “Hollywood Week: Music City Takeover” episode, which was filmed in Nashville.

“Boo me. I don’t care,” the country singer wrote on X while the episode was airing.

In the episode itself, Underwood acknowledged the crowd wasn’t going to like her criticism during judging.

“You guys are gonna boo me. You’re gonna boo me,” she told the audience. “It’s coming. Bring it on. I love it! Your boos are feeding me.”

Underwood then told Mor, “In a room like this, for you to bring an original song with that incredible band sitting behind you, twiddling their thumbs, I feel like it was a missed opportunity.”

After Underwood received a stretch of boos from the crowd, fellow judge Luke Bryan stepped in to defend the Season 4 champion.

“She only won this. She knows,” Bryan, 49, said as Underwood told the crowd, “You’re not included in the discussions.”

The “Before He Cheats” singer then joked around with Bryan about the differing reactions they were getting from the audience.

“Why don’t they boo you?” she asked the “One Margarita” singer, who joked, “I don’t know, I’m trying to get booed.”

Underwood then turned to the crowd and asked, “You’re not going to boo him?,” which they finally did.

The “American Idol” Season 4 winner previously hinted that she got a hostile reaction while judging Hollywood Week in Nashville.

“Spoiler alert…I get booed A LOT from our Hollywood Week audience @AmericanIdol,” she tweeted on Feb. 16.

In September, Underwood opened up about the fan response to her “American Idol” judging on SiriusXM’s “The Highway.”

“Sometimes I get in trouble from people like, ‘How dare she say that it wasn’t perfect?’” she said. “And I’m like, I just want everybody to learn and that’s part of it. And nobody wants to just hear that they’re amazing all the time.”

“We just want everybody to be able to grow and get better,” Underwood went on, “and be the most awesome version of themselves that they could be.”

The “Jesus, Take The Wheel” singer replaced Katy Perry as a judge on “American Idol,” stepping into the role for Season 23, which premiered in March 2025.

Two months prior, Underwood collected backlash for singing “America the Beautiful” at President Trump’s second presidential inauguration.

But “American Idol” showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick defended Underwood at the time, pointing out that it “was her decision” to perform for Trump.