Getty The 'American Idol' season four finalists
“American Idol” season four finalist Constantine Maroulis opened up earlier this year about touring with Carrie Underwood after their season — and in the process, told a horrifyingly hilarious story about when the “Idol” season four tour was in Minneapolis, MN.
Carrie Underwood Accidentally Killed a Bird and Was Completely Hysterical
In an interview with “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef,” Maroulis got to talking about playing in Minneapolis, MN, which reminded him of when the “American Idol” tour stopped there in the summer of 2005. That previous spring, Maroulis finished in sixth place on “American Idol” season four, which Underwood won, and then the finalists all went on tour together that summer.
In Minneapolis, he and Underwood left the hotel and were walking to the vans to go to a soundcheck and Underwood stepped on a bird — and completely lost it. Maroulis said she’d probably kill him for even telling this story.
“She’d be so mad if I said this because she’s such an animal lover and it broke her heart and she was not the same thereafter,” said Maroulis, adding later, “She would kill me for telling that story.” But he told the story anyway.
“Gorgeous summer day and we’re walking out to our vans to go to like a soundcheck or something and we’re all casual,” said Maroulis. “And a little bird came … as we’re walking out, came landed. And she stepped on it right at the time it landed and she stepped on it. And it was like, ‘OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!'”
“It was just like the most freakish thing that could ever happen to someone. Like, as the bird landed, like she just kind of stepped on it. And I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ and she was hysterical. She was hysterical,” Maroulis recalled, adding, “I just remember the doorman being like, ‘Ugh’ and he just put the luggage rack, like right over the bird, because the bird was pretty f***ed up after that.”
Underwood Is a Known Animal Rights Supporter
Maroulis added that Underwood was particularly horrified because she is such an animal lover.
“She’s like this vegetarian … I mean, this is the girl that like won the Ford Mustang and like had the seats swapped out because they were like leather seats and had the vinyl ones put in instead. And she’s been a huge advocate for animal rights and all of that, but it was just one of those freakish things that happened. That was a total accident. And I just will never forget [it] … it was just one of those like dumb little birds they came like in flew in and just you just kinda half step on it, but it’s enough to, you know, do a little damage.”
Indeed, Underwood became a vegetarian as a child after seeing her parents castrate calves on their farm when she was growing up, she revealed on VH1’s “Behind the Music” (via Taste of Country). Taste of Country also reported that Underwood was outspoken against the Tennessee “Ag Gag” bill about how whistleblowers could document animal cruelty or abuse they witnessed on farms.
Underwood also told CMT in 2005 that being vegetarian is her choice, despite growing up in a state where farming and livestock are such a big part of its industry — and that that does not define all Oklahomans.
“I don’t think those things define us as Oklahomans. I think that the way that we are in our personality and in the morals that we have, I think that defines us Oklahomans. Livestock is definitely a big deal in Oklahoma. A lot of my friends were in FFA and stuff like that growing up. … I just choose not to eat animals. That’s it. I’m not really associated with PETA. If they’re doing a spay-or-neuter campaign, I’m all for it. I’m not really for so many radical things. I think there’s just an easier way. I don’t preach to others about it. This is just the way I am. If you were sitting there next to me, eating a steak right now, I wouldn’t say anything about it because that’s your choice, just like it’s my choice not to eat it,” said Underwood.
Back on the podcast, Maroulis ended that segment of his interview by saying that on the “Idol” tour, with “all the drama and backstage and everything,” he has never “brought up one story” about Underwood because he “love[s] and respect[s] her too much,” but this one story about the bird popped into his head and he had to share about this “freakish weird incident that happened.”
“American Idol” returns in the spring of 2022 on ABC.
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