Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler announced as 'American Idol' judges

Fox has finally confirmed what had been widely reported for weeks -- that singer and actress Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler will join returning judge Randy Jackson on American Idol's tenth-season judging panel.


"I can now make it official,"  American Idol host Ryan Seacrest said during a Wednesday media event in which Lopez, Tyler and Jackson were introduced at the show's tenth-season auditions in Los Angeles.

"Yeah, it's time -- yes," Jackson shouted as Seacrest introduced him.  "I'm so excited for this... I'm calling Idol Season 10 'the remix,' baby!"

Seacrest then introduced Tyler, who he called a rock legend with "amazing heart" that "has it all."

"It feels like the perfect feathered nest," Tyler told Seacrest when asked how it felt to be joining Idol.  "I want to bring some rock to this rollercoaster."


Lopez was introduced last.  Unlike Jackson and Tyler -- who had just walked out from backstage after Seacrest's introductions -- Lopez rose through the floor and emerged from centerstage after the stage had filled with smoke.

"Please welcome the total package, the triple threat -- ladies and gentleman, Miss Jennifer Lopez!" Seacrest gushed in an over-the-top introduction that will likely do little to quash prior reports that the singer had made "diva" demands during her Idol contract negotiations.

"I'm so excited to be here... so excited!" Lopez said.  "I'm looking for the next Michael Jackson -- like Randy said, for the best American Idol [winner] ever."

Widespread reports that Lopez would be joining American Idol had surfaced in late July a few hours after Fox announced Ellen DeGeneres had decided to join Simon Cowell -- who left the show after this past May's ninth-season finale to launch an American adaptation of his British The X Factor reality competition which will debut on Fox in Fall 2011 -- and leave Idol's judging panel. 

Additional reports that Fox had also decided to axe Kara DioGuardi and add Tyler to the judging panel then followed shortly thereafter.


While Fox finally confirmed DioGuardi's Idol departure earlier this month via a quiet pre-Memorial Day weekend press release, it had declined to comment on reports of Lopez and Tyler's additions.

Tyler reportedly ended up completing his Idol contract negotiations in early August, but Lopez's talks apparently didn't go as smoothly -- resulting in a People magazine report that her negotiations had fallen apart due to alleged "diva" demands and she would not be joining the show after all.

However two weeks later, new reports that refuted the earlier "diva" reports and claimed Lopez was close to completing her Idol deal surfaced.  According to reports, Lopez will receive $12 million to serve on American Idol's tenth-season judging panel.

"This was certainly under the radar -- America's best kept secret," Seacrest joked to Lopez after he introduced her Wednesday.






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