Wichita’s Arthur Gunn is back on ‘American Idol,’ but not everyone is happy about it
Wichita’s Arthur Gunn is back on “American Idol.”
Gunn, a Wichita native who was the runner-up on last season’s show, returned to the competition during Sunday night’s episode of the ABC show, and now, he’s among the current season’s seven finalists.
Two weeks ago, the show announced a twist by giving 10 of last year’s top 20 finalists a chance to perform for a spot among this season’s Top 10. The rationale, producers have said, was that last year’s contestants never got a chance to perform on the real “American Idol” stage since the season aired at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, last year’s singers — including Gunn — competed via live stream from their homes.
Fans of the show spent a week voting, and on Sunday’s show, host Ryan Seacrest announced that Wichita’s Gunn had earned the most votes.
Gunn, whose birth name is Dibesh Pokharel, was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, and moved to Wichita seven years ago. He was at the ”American Idol” auditions that rolled through Wichita in September 2019 and made it all the way through to the final two.
After he was announced the winner of the vote, Gunn performed “Remember Me,” a song from the movie “Coco.” At the show’s end, Seacrest announced which of the contestants had advanced to the final seven, and Gunn’s name was the last read.
But although Wichita may be celebrating Gunn’s second chance, not everyone is. There’s been much social media backlash about the twist, which some fans say is unfair to this season’s contestants.
Gunn will be back performing on “American Idol” on Sunday, when the show — judged by celebrity singers Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie — will have a Mother’s Day theme and celebrate the songs of the band Coldplay.
This story was originally published May 3, 2021 at 11:52 AM.
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