Oh how the tables have turned! Back in 2018, Katy Perry drew the ire of many after she smooched a teenaged contestant on American Idol who said he hadn’t kissed a girl before. Well, that kiss may not have gone down too well for the said Idol hopeful, because as per reports, he has been arrested for the possession of CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material, colloquially known as child pornography).
Benjamin Glaze, now 26, was arrested on Friday, Oct. 18, by the Tulsa Police Department following a six-month investigation. The department’s Sexual Predator/Digital Evidence Recovery Unit (Spider Unit) obtained a search warrant for his home, where officers recovered a smartphone containing more than 700 images and videos of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The search was carried out after police received information regarding Glaze’s criminal activity in April 2024.
“On 10/18/2024, an arrest warrant was issued for Benjamin Isaac Dewitt Glaze for Aggravated Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material. Glaze was located and arrested on the afternoon of 10/18/2024 by the Spider Unit and booked into the Tulsa County Jail for his warrant,” The Tulsa Police Department wrote on its Facebook page.
The department noted that it was “an arrest and not a conviction.” Glaze has since been released on a $50,000 bail. His arrest came as a shock to many, especially to those who knew him and his family. One commented on the department’s post:
What’s sad is , my son went to school with him . He was very well liked and musical . He made it through a few rounds of American idol. Just goes to show , things and people are not always how they seem…This is not how he was raised but you don’t know how sick minds work.
Another noted: “I was in the same class as his younger brother. So crazy. He comes from a very conservative and religious family. My jaw dropped.”
My whole family, when I was young, went to his families church YEARS ago like maybe 8-10 yrs ago. They were good people. Well i guess his family was, he isn’t/wasn’t. I knew his entire family and they were very religious at the time. Crazy.
Glaze was only 19 when he auditioned for season 16 of American Idol. Although he received three no’s from the judges, his audition quickly became viral because of the kiss he shared with Perry, albeit not in his favor. It was a quick smack on the lips that happened after he candidly admitted that he has never been in a relationship and so has never kissed a girl before.
“I have never been in a relationship, and I can’t kiss a girl without being in a relationship,” he shared. The Oklahoma resident, who said he comes from a conservative family, also talked about loving his work as a cashier because “sometimes there’s cute girls and they’re not going anywhere without saying hi.”
Perry then asked the bashful contestant to approach her on the table so he can give her a peck on the cheek. Little did he know, she had something else on mind. Afterward, a flustered Glaze asked for water before he performed “Levels” for the judges.
That surprise move from the “I Kissed A Girl” singer did not sit well with some viewers, who accused her of assaulting a teenager. But her fellow judges, including Luke Bryan, defended her from the bashers in an interview, calling it “unfortunate that stuff like that turns into a story that big.” He also claimed that Glaze “was cool with everything.” But following his audition, Glaze said if it were up to him he would have wanted his first kiss to “be special.”
