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Luke Bryan reacted to former American Idol judge Katy Perry’s historic launch into outer space on an all-female flight on Monday morning (April 14).
Perry, who sang “What a Wonderful World” in space, was part of Blue Origin's first all-female flight with Gayle King, Amanda Nguyen, Aisha Bowe, Lauren Sánchez, and Kerianne Flynn. Bryan sat down with Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday evening (April 15) on the comedian’s late night talk show. Kimmel asked the Mind Of A Country Boy star whether he followed Perry’s voyage, particularly after the pair sat alongside one another on Idol’s celebrity judge panel for several seasons. Bryan and Perry served as judges with Lionel Richie. Perry left the show last year, and Carrie Underwood stepped in as a judge for the first time, marking a full circle moment 20 years after she won the competition in 2005.
“I accidentally started following it,” Bryan said. “I was doing my morning walk around the farm, which turns into checking instagram and stuff. And I saw where she was posting on her Instagram that it was happening at 8:30 central, and totally got roped into the moment, went and clicked on the links. And back when she announced that she was going to do that, I had sent her a text going, ‘good luck, wow, that’s crazy you’re getting to do that.’ And, like I said, a couple months later, there I am walking around my farm watching the one-hour telecast of it. …It roped me in because when you have a friend, I mean, let’s face it: it could blow up. So I wanted it to not do that.
“I saw her kiss the ground, which, that would be my reaction, too,” Bryan added. Kimmel played a clip of Perry’s emotional reaction after she returned from the flight. The “E.T.” artist said she felt “super connected to love...you never know how much love is inside of you.”
Bryan joked, “was there a pre-flight meal? Did Bezos serve mushrooms on it? Like, I really want to go to space now! …It must’ve been quite the euphoric ride through the cosmos. I’ll have to — maybe she’ll debrief me on those emotions” Kimmel and Bryan joked that the country megastar could be a “space cowboy,” “space redneck,” “country boy” or “bass fisherman in space.” However, Bryan believes “I would get a resounding ‘no’ from my family,” if he ever had the opportunity to launch into space.
“It roped me in,” Bryan reiterated. “I was just hoping it got back safely.”
Throughout the interview, Bryan also spoke about the hilarious moment he was mistaken for Blake Shelton, his 2025 tours, the time a fan threw a prosthetic leg on stage, the current season of American Idol (which includes Jelly Roll as the first-ever artist in residence) and more. Watch the interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live here: