Over the years, it's pretty much become par for the course to have previous American Idol winners return and perform at the finale the following year. But as Variety reports, Idol 's production team told last year's champion, Maddie Poppe , that the three-hour finale this year was "already booked. According to the outlet, this is just one example of the tension going on behind the scenes between past contestants and the show. A Variety source said that Maddie was under the impression that they would be making a "big plug" for the album. Idol couldn't, however, reportedly because "the show ran out of time. Not trying to make it about me at all. The situation was apparently made worse when last year's third place finisher Gabby Barrett came back on May 5 and the show announced that she had signed with Warner Brothers Nashville. Taking note of the weird situation, former contestant Ada Vox hopped on Twitter in Maddie's defense.

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Maddie Poppe has been caught throwing some subtle shade at American Idol recently. After botching her new album announcement on the show, things only got worse when 2nd runner-up Gabby Barrett was invited to perform her new song during Top 6 week. And what does Maddie have to say about it? Well the answer to that is, a lot! In case you missed it, Maddie has been live-tweeting with most of this season of American Idol. She has even made friendships with contestants like Margie Mays and Walker Burroughs because of it. But per the tweet above, it seems like that is over now.
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Maddie Poppe fans take aim at American Idol after Maddie shares unfortunate news on twitter. Unfortunately the show abruptly went to commercial break without any Ryan Seacrest chat, robbing her of that invaluable opportunity. Maddie explained it like this on Instagram:. This sparked a flurry of comments between Maddie and fans where more information was revealed. Maddie announced that she was no longer scheduled to perform at the finale. This was a big shock considering that usually the finale of American Idol features the winner of the previous season. Who will be watching? As a result many of them took to twitter to express their anger at American Idol for their treatment of its most recent winner. Additionally, fans have even taken it as far as to get a petition circulating that got over signatures.
Where's Maddie Poppe? Fans are wondering and openly questioning on social media. By Michele Amabile Angermiller. So why has the show seemingly broken from tradition this year in practically ignoring its previous victor, Maddie Poppe? The look infuriated the Poppe posse. What form that will take is unclear, but bringing Poppe back would support comments made last May by Disney Music Group president Ken Bunt. We want to keep the talent from the show at top-of-mind for the rest of the year. Home Music News.