Harry Connick Jr.’s interaction with contestant Quentin Alexander on Wednesday night’s show proved for an awkward television moment when the judge appeared to scold him live on air.

Alexander looked annoyed after his performance of Lenny Kravitz‘s “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” and when host Ryan Seacrest asked him what was up, he went on a mini rant about the competitors in the bottom two.

“This whole thing is wack,” he said, saying “we have two of the best vocalists” in the bottom. When Seacrest tried to help the situation and suggested “let’s un-wack it,” Connick Jr. chimed in.

"Are we at commercial?” he asked, “No, no we’re live,” Seacrest answered, TheWrap reports.

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“Oh, good. I was going to say, Quentin, if it’s that wack, then you can always go home, because Idol is paying a lot of money to give you this experience and for you to say that to this hand that is feeding you right now, I think is highly disrespectful,” he told Alexander.

The other judges, Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban, took Alexander’s side, and then Alexander tried to clear up the “wack” comment.

“When I said that this was wack, I wasn’t saying THIS is wack,” he told him, pointing to the contestants in the bottom two, “THAT is wack, For my personal feelings, it sucks to see two people who I’ve grown to love go home. That’s what I mean by it being wack. So, I’m not disrespecting this competition.”

image via INFphoto.com