Taking the snub in stride. Lionel Richie made light of the fact that he and Luke Bryan are not invited to their fellow American Idol judge Katy Perry’s wedding to Orlando Bloom.
“It’s time that we just put it out there. Luke and I are just offended,” Richie, 70, quipped exclusively to Us Weekly at his Hello fragrance launch on Wednesday, February 19. “We keep waiting for Katy like, ‘OK, when is the date and where are we supposed to be and how many songs do you want us to sing?’ Crickets. Crickets. OK. So we’ve kind of taken it to a point now where no, we’re not invited. No, they don’t want to see us.”
The “All Night Long” singer went on to surmise the reason behind Perry’s decision. “I know what it is now,” he continued. “She doesn’t want us to upstage her. It’s about her and I understand it and we wish them the best. But we are offended.”
Richie then joked about a special duet he and Bryan, 43, prepared for the bride and groom. “Oh, excuse me! ‘Endless Love’ was the point. And Luke and I were going to sing it together. Which one was going to be Diana [Ross] was going to be the problem, but I told them, ‘I’m me,’” he teased before turning serious. “We wish them so much happiness. But Katy is a ham sandwich, so you know we have to give her a hard time.”
Perry, 35, and Bloom, 43, announced their engagement in February 2019. Us exclusively revealed earlier this month that the pair are set to tie the knot in April after postponing their ceremony — originally scheduled to take place in December 2019.
“They changed the timing due to the location they want,” a source told Us. “They’re beyond in love.”
The actor and the Grammy nominee plan “to have one local wedding party, and the other will be a destination wedding party,” according to the insider.
Perry then hopes to add to their family. (Bloom is already the father of son Flynn, 9, with ex-wife Miranda Kerr.) The source noted: “Katy wants to have her first kid soon after they get married.”
Lionel Richie’s Hello fragrances are now available in stores and online at Walgreens and on Amazon.
With reporting by Nicole Pajer