‘American Idol’ Singer Benjamin Glaze Arrested for Possession of Child Pornography

Benjamin Glaze, a 26-year-old former American Idol contestant, has been arrested in Oklahoma for possession of child pornography.

According to a recent post on the Tulsa Police Department’s Facebook, Glaze was arrested and booked into Tulsa County Jail on Oct. 18 after authorities found over 700 images and videos of child sexual abuse material on his smart phone. The department first became aware of the singer’s alleged possession of the materials in April, when they “received information regarding criminal activity” about Glaze, after which the Sexual Predator/Digital Evidence Recovery Unit obtained a search warrant for his home. His phone was recovered during the search.

Billboard was unable to reach Glaze for comment.

The Tulsa Police Department’s post also includes a photo of Glaze that appears to have been taken at the station. In the picture, he stares blankly at the camera while wearing a Walmart uniform shirt.

Though Glaze didn’t make it past his audition on American Idol in 2018, he made headlines amid the show’s 16th season when Katy Perry — one of the judges at the time — kissed him on the lips before he performed. After the then-19-year-old contestant revealed to the pop star and co-judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan that he hadn’t yet had his first kiss, Perry encouraged him to give her a peck on the cheek; when he got close to her face, however, she turned at the last second to sneak a smooch on his mouth.

“Katy!” he exclaimed at the time after falling to the floor. “You didn’t!”

Later, Glaze told The New York Times that while he did not feel sexually harassed, he felt “a tad bit” uncomfortable in the moment. “Would I have done it if she said, ‘Would you kiss me?’ No, I would have said no,” he told the publication. “I know a lot of guys would be like, ‘Heck yeah!’ But for me, I was raised in a conservative family and I was uncomfortable immediately. I wanted my first kiss to be special.”

Even so, Glaze also said at the time that he and his friends back in Oklahoma agreed that the kiss “didn’t really count.” “It was lip contact versus a romantic situation with someone you care about,” he added. “That’s what a real first kiss is.”

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