Piers Morgan Buzzes Prince Poppycock, Jackie Evancho Shines in ‘AGT’ Competition Finale

During the season five competition finale of America’s Got Talent Tuesday night, young soprano Jackie Evancho, 10, performed a fantastic rendition of “Ave Maria,” prompting judge Piers Morgan to predict that she’ll win the show on Wednesday night’s results episode.

However, controversy swirled when Morgan opted to express his disapproval of colorful cabaret singer Prince Poppycock’s performance by buzzing during his rendition of “Nessun Dorma,” the LA Times reports.

After host Nick Cannon asked Morgan to explain his decision to buzz the AGT finalist, Poppycock interjected to say, “What’s the matter Piers? It looks like you’ve been sucking on a lemon,” to which the judge bluntly replied, “I think you’ve blown it, I’m afraid.”

Morgan, who was confirmed earlier this week as Larry King’s eventual successor on CNN as a primetime talk show host, stated that he buzzed Poppycock because his performance was self-indulgent, and the song choice was highly questionable since he is competing against Evancho, who he described as a “brilliant young opera singer.”

Although fellow judge Sharon Osbourne condemned him on-air for buzzing Poppycock, Morgan stood by his decision, telling People.com: “I only use the X when I think that a contestant has reached the end of the road. Poppycock lost his sense of fun. Since there’s no next round in the competition, the only way to say ‘You’ve blown it, you can’t win,’ was the X.”

In response to being buzzed during his final performance on America’s Got Talent, Poppycock described Morgan as “a big ninny.”