Benjamin Glaze, the 26-year-old former American Idol contestant who went viral for kissing Katy Perry during his audition, will spend more than a decade behind bars for possessing child pornography.
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According to a release issued by the Tulsa Police Department, Glaze pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of child sexual abuse material on September 15. He was sentenced to 25 years, 15 of which will be served in prison. Glaze will then serve the remaining 10 years suspended.
The former Idol contestant will have to register as a sex offender.
As reported by Fox 23, the investigation began back in April 2024. At the time, Glaze had confessed to a mental health counselor that he was addicted to child pornography.
The Tulsa Police Sexual Predator/Digital Recovery Unit (Spider Unit) was informed of Glaze’s criminal activity shortly after. During the investigation, the Spider Unit secured and executed a search warrant for the 26-year-old’s residence.
During the search, a smartphone was recovered. In a horrifying and disturbing discovery, the Spider Unit found that the phone contained more than 700 images and videos of child sexual abuse material.
Benjamin Glaze was subsequently arrested on October 18, 2024, on aggravated possession of child sexual abuse material.
An Infamous Kiss
The now-disgraced Glaze quickly went viral back in 2016 when he kissed Katy Perry during an audition. The pop star was an American Idol judge at the time. What was supposed to be a kiss on Perry’s cheek turned into a lip kiss when she quickly turned her face around to face Glaze.
While he didn’t get a ticket to Hollywood, the controversial kiss put him in the spotlight, although not in the way he imagined.
Many criticized Perry for what they believed was sexual harassment. This was fueled by Glaze’s claims that he had “never been in a relationship,” and that he was unable to “kiss a girl without being in a relationship.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Glaze said that he felt “a tad bit uncomfortable” at the time. He told the outlet that he wanted his first kiss to be “special” and save it for his first relationship.
Glaze, however, would defend Perry on Instagram following the backlash that the impromptu kiss caused.
‘I do not think I was sexually harassed by Katy Perry,” he said, as per the Daily Mail. “I was uncomfortable in a sense of how I have never been kissed before and was not expecting it.”