Although he made it to the finals in American Idol, 16-year-old Caleb Kennedy’s music career came to a grounding halt because of a home video from four years ago. In the clip, which has shocked thousands of American Idol fans, Kennedy was with a friend in a white hood resembling the garb of the KKK terrorist group. After the clip was released, American Idol fans revolted against Kennedy, and he withdrew from the competition because of the “racist” incident.
According to the boy’s mother, the friend was not wearing a KKK costume but a similar outfit as a character from the horror movie entitled The Strangers. Although the horror movie does not discuss issues of racism, the character’s outfit somewhat resembled the KKK garb, which was why the American public lashed out at Kennedy for spending time with the boy in the outfit.
Meanwhile, Caleb’s mother insists her boy is not a racist. However, critics do not believe her since the boy uploaded the shocking costume to Snapchat, and there are no “excuses” that could make what he did all right.
Kennedy eventually apologized publicly and said he would work to regain the trust of the fans he had earned while on American Idol. But the damage may have already harmed Kennedy’s career hopes beyond repair.
“Hey y’all, this is gonna be a bit of a surprise, but I am no longer gonna be on American Idol. There was a video that surfaced on the internet, and it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way. I was younger and did not think about the actions, but that’s not an excuse.”
Although it is not clear whether ABC asked Kennedy to step away from the competition, the young singer did just that after he started trending for the “racist” video. The boy also confirmed that he would be taking a break from social media because it was his actions on Snapchat that ended his singing career with American Idol.
He added, “I wanna say sorry to all my fans and everyone who I have let down. I’ll be taking a little time off social media to better myself, but saying that, I know this has hurt and disappointed a lot of people and made people lose respect for me. I’m so sorry! I pray that I can one day regain your trust in who I am and have your respect! Thank you for supporting me.”
Caleb’s mom spoke to The Herald Journal about her son’s mistake and admitted that it “looks” bad.
“I hate this has happened and how Caleb is being portrayed by people online. This video was taken after Caleb had watched the movie The Strangers: Prey at Night, and they were imitating those characters. It had nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan, but I know that’s how it looks. Caleb doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. He loves everyone and has friends of all races,” she said.
