LOS ANGELES — Disney Night on “American Idol” didn’t have a fairy-tale ending for everyone. Two more singers were sent home, bringing the competition down to the Top Seven.<\/p>\n
Hannah Harper is among the contestants moving on to next week, with viewers’ votes determining who stays and who goes.<\/p>\n
“We all got here for a reason,” Harper said. “America is fighting for us. They’re fighting to keep us, and I think that’s the most encouraging thing we can hear.”<\/p>\n
For Keyla Richardson, praise from the judges – and an unexpected shoe toss from guest judge Jennifer Hudson – meant a great deal.<\/p>\n
“So when I throw the shoe, it just hits my spirit and I don’t even know what’s happening,” Hudson said. “But it’s the ultimate compliment. It’s like a standing ovation.”<\/p>\n
Richardson said encouragement from the judges can make all the difference.<\/p>\n
“There are people who see more in us sometimes than we see in ourselves, and they’re able to tell us,” she said. “It’s encouraging. It helps us keep going.”<\/p>\n
Eliminated from the competition were Lucas Leon and Kyndal, both falling short after their performances.<\/p>\n
Host Ryan Seacrest said the remaining contestants will need to push beyond expectations.<\/p>\n
“Now it’s a matter of who can break through and do something you didn’t expect, something you feel in your organs when they perform,” Seacrest said. “That will be the person who makes it through.”<\/p>\n
Five men advanced to the Top Seven: Daniel Stallworth, Braden Rumfelt, Chris Tungseth, Brooks and Jordan McCullough.<\/p>\n
McCullough said he was proud regardless of the outcome.<\/p>\n
“I knew that no matter what happened, I was proud,” he said. “If that performance was going to take me out, I was OK with that.”<\/p>\n
Rumfelt echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n
“I look at all these guys, and they’re so talented,” he said. “I’m just so happy to be here with them. That’s the only thought I have.”<\/p>\n
Next week, comedian Nikki Glaser will serve as guest judge as the Top Seven take on the music of Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n
“She’s a brilliant comedian,” judge Luke Bryan said. “I’m excited to see what she brings to the show.”<\/p>\n
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Disney+, Hulu and this ABC station. <\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2026 OnTheRedCarpet.com. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES — Disney Night on “American Idol” didn’t have a fairy-tale ending for everyone. Two more singers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[120288,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-278973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-120288","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}