News broke on Monday that “American Idol” will be canceled after its forthcoming 15th season, but former judge Steven Tyler said he would be happy to return for the show’s victory lap — if the pot’s sweet enough.
“Hey, they offer me enough money, even I’ll come back,” Tyler told Entertainment Tonight‘s Nancy O’Dell. “I know Randy [Jackson] will.”
Tyler is also certain that the singing competition will be memorialized in pop culture history.
“They’ve had a fantastic run. They invented the genre,” Tyler said. “Then the other shows took over and did the turning chairs and ‘America’s Got Talent’ and all that stuff, which is great, great, great, but it took a little fire away from the initial thing.”
“But they are ‘American Idol.’ They will be that forever,” the singer added.
As for this season, Tyler is set to take the stage for the finale on May 13 to promote his new country single “Love Is Your Name.” The single is part of a solo country album he has been working on since the beginning of the year.
In response to surprise among many that the rock icon is heading down the country road, Tyler told ET, “Nobody knows how country I am. You know, when I was a kid I used to trudge through 10 miles of snow just for cigarettes and sex, and what about that isn’t to write country songs about?”
The last episode of “American Idol” Season 14 will air Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.