Connor Johnson, a 23-year-old street performer and surfer from Hawaii, auditioned during the June 28 episode of “America’s Got Talent” Season 17 and immediately attained “front-runner” status. The singing surfer was accompanied by his proud mother, a nurse who’s served in the military for 30 years. “AGT” judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara talked with Connor before his audition, and he revealed his big dream in life is “to be able to play to this every night.” He then started singing Lewis Capaldi‘s “Forever” but, Simon being Simon, he held up his hand and cruelly cut him off mid-song.
“Hold up,” Simon declared. “I’ve gotta be honest with you — that was a bit boring.” Cue the loud boos from the audience members, who clearly disagreed with the judge’s emotionless statement. Simon then tried to gaslight everyone by saying the audience “agreed” with him, which caused his fellow panelists to roll their eyes.
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Unfazed by Simon’s cruel actions, Connor humbly belted out an acoustic rendition of Disclosure‘s “Latch” and had the crowd swooning with his every word. At the conclusion of the performance, Simon inquired, “Connor, thank you very much. Do you have a third song?” Off Connor’s shocked expression, Simon added, “No, I’m kidding, I’m kidding!”
Here is what the “AGT” judges had to say about Connor Johnson’s audition:
Sofia: “Usually when Simon asks, even though it’s annoying, when he asks for a second song, he’s right. This one was so much better and your voice is beautiful.
Heidi: “You do have a beautiful voice but you’re also very easy on the eyes. I’m just like looking at all these gorgeous girls right here and they all have little hearts in their eyeballs.”
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Howie: “I think you’re gonna be able to come in off the street and perform in a building like this every night you want.”
Simon: “This was a really good audition. You have a good voice. If you go forward you’ve probably gotta go a little bit outside your comfort zone. And good for you when we stopped you, you just took a beat and then you really did deliver. So much better on the second song, so well done.”
The four judges voted one by one to send Connor through to the next round. Do you think he has what it takes to join the “America’s Got Talent” winners list? Sound off down in the comments section.
If this whole scenario sounds familiar to you, it’s because Simon stopped another male singer mid-performance last week. Kieran Rhodes, a self-taught pianist, only got a couple of verses into Billy Joel‘s “She’s Got a Way” when Simon stopped him. Kieran then performed an original tune called “Disengage” and earned four “yes” votes from the judges.
