Katy Perry Burst Into Tears On 'American Idol' & A Shooting Survivor Really Moved Her (VIDEO)
Singing auditions can get emotional on American Idol, but emotions reached an all-time high on Sunday night after a school shooting survivor auditioned for the judges.
Trey Louis, 21, performed in front of Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie and it was his story of why he was there that led Perry to break down in tears.
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The mattress salesman from Santa Fe, Texas sang Stone by Whiskey Myers. Bryan described Louis' voice as "perfect" and then proceeded to ask him why he wanted to be on American Idol.
That's when things took a heartbreaking turn.
Louis explained that he was inside Santa Fe High School when a gunman shot and killed several students in May 2018.
“I was in Art Room 1 and he shot up Art Room 2 before he made his way to Art Room 1,” he told the three judges.
“Lost a lot of friends. Eight students were killed. Two teachers were killed. It’s just really been negative, man. Santa Fe’s had a bad rap here since 2018.”
Bryan started talking about Louis' singing voice again, before Perry started sobbing.
“Our country has f*cking failed us," the singer shouted.
Louis watched her and replied: "Facts."
The California Gurls singer added "This is not OK. You should be singing here because you love music."
"You didn’t have to lose eight friends. I hope that you remind people that we have to change because, you know what, I’m scared too.”
"We have tolerated this for so long, too long. It’s become a norm," Richie continued.
All three judges decided to send Louis through to Hollywood and gave him a group hug before he walked out the door.
Following Louis' audition, Perry shared his audition clip with an emoji of a broken heart as the caption.
Bryan and Richie also tweeted about the audition.
"Trey, man you have the perfect voice," Bryan tweeted. "You sing from the heart and we are really bless you came to us."
\u201cTrey, man you have the perfect voice. You sing from the heart and we are really blessed you came to us. No child should have to live through what you did. Thank you for sharing your positivity with us and the world. #AmericanIdol\u201d— Luke Bryan (@Luke Bryan) 1677466809
In his tweet, Richie wrote,:"@trefromthefe you sing from such a place of strength. Thank you for gracing us with your talent, and sharing your story."
\u201c.@treyfromthefe you sing from such a place of strength. Thank you for gracing us with your talent, and sharing your story. #AmericanIdol\u201d— Lionel Richie (@Lionel Richie) 1677466735
Last week a 17-year-old Vancouver teen wowed the judges with his performance of Billy Joel's New York State Of Mind.
The judges proceeded to give Tyson Venegas the first Platinum Ticket of the season.
