Katy Perry has been entertaining crowds for a long time, breaking out as a pop star 15 years ago, and now as a judge on American Idol, she definitely brings that performative energy to the small screen. She’s had emotional freakouts over certain contestants and even dramatically acted like she was fainting during one Season 21 audition (after which her comments drew “mom-shaming” accusations). If there’s anybody who relates to such over-the-top reactions, it’s Kim Kardashian, and after Perry shared a self-deprecating photo of her ugly-cry face, the reality star had an A+ response.
Katy Perry wasn’t the only one letting the tears flow freely during the April 3 broadcast of American Idol. Ahead of the emotional episode, Perry gave her Instagram followers a peek at what they were in for, while poking fun at herself for having an “ugly-cry face”:
Kim Kardashian’s “ugly-cry” radar must have gone off with Katy Perry’s post, and The Kardashians star hit up the singer in the comments to let her know she wasn’t alone. She told Perry:
We all have one
Kim Kardashian’s cry face is certainly iconic and likely the subject of even more memes than Ben Affleck’s unhappy face. Fans were introduced to her ugly crying way back in Season 1 of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, when she had an over-the-top reaction to her mom Kris Jenner saying there was a spider on her:
It appears Kim Kardashian’s grandmother MJ and sister Kourtney were as entertained by her meltdown as the rest of us, judging from that photo. While the SKIMS founder’s ugly-cry face was featured several times on the E! reality show over its 20-season run, there’s likely no scene more infamous than when she lost her diamond earring in the ocean:
That Season 6 scene prompted Kourtney Kardashian’s famous, “Kim, there’s people that are dying,” line. Kim Kardashian's cry face hasn’t gone anywhere over the years, and North West certainly seems to be aware of her mother’s influence on the meme culture, as she used the audio from another classic KUWTK crying scene in one of her TikTok videos trolling Kim Kardashian.
We’ve even glimpsed the ugly cry on Hulu’s The Kardashians, when the SKIMS founder called Kanye West about a supposed sex tape ad that popped up on son Saint’s video game:
So Katy Perry appears to be in good company when it comes to ugly-cry faces. This wasn’t the first time the pop star became emotional during the current season of American Idol. Perry became enraged at the state of our country, after singer Trey Louis spoke about losing eight friends and two teachers in a 2018 school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. You can see his emotional audition below:
Sometimes extreme emotion is fully warranted, and Katy Perry and Kim Kardashian both tend to wear that on their sleeves. Tune in to see what else might evoke a strong reaction from the judge this season, as American Idol continues at 8 p.m. ET Sundays and Mondays on ABC. Fans will be able to keep up with Kardashian when Season 3 of The Kardashians hits the 2023 TV schedule on Thursday, May 25, for those with a Hulu subscription.
