Mariah Carey is the new "American Idol" judge, Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly announced Monday.
Reilly made the announcement at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in an extraordinarily low-key way. In what felt like a joke about rampant "Idol" rumors, he said Fox had just closed a deal with "the biggest recording artist that any of these shows have ever had."
He then dialed the new judge on his cell phone.
"Hi, Mariah?" he said. "How are you? It's Kevin."
It wasn't a joke. Reilly put his phone on speaker, and Mariah Carey came on the line.
"I am so excited to be joining 'Idol,'" she said.
More to come...
