Here’s What Blake Shelton Told Ariana Grande After ‘The Voice’ Replacement Rumors
Blake Shelton read the rumors that producers of The Voice on NBC were trying to oust him, so he sent a text to the new coach at the center of it. Ariana Grande just shared that text message with her 268 million followers on Instagram.
OK Magazine and Radar Online recently reported that producers of the reality singing competition are looking to replace Shelton with a younger coach, due in part to the popularity of Grande on the show. Both outlets quote anonymous sources in claiming that The Voice wants to shake things up, perhaps as soon as Season 22. Thus far, there's been no substantial evidence that a change is coming.
Last Friday, Grande sneakily buried a screenshot of a text Shelton sent her at the end of a 10-slide photo gallery on Instagram. The first nine are pretty random, but the last indicates that Shelton texted her a link to the OK Magazine article with a quip.
"Thanks a lot Ari," his text reads. "Thanks a f---in' lot."
Shelton's preferred social media platform is Twitter, and he hasn't said anything about the brouhaha there yet. Those who've followed him can safely assume he's just joking (we think), but anyone watching Season 21 thus far has noticed a new feud building. It manifested during Monday night's (Sept. 27) Blind Audition episode when the country singer accused the pop singer of stabbing him in the back.
The audition episodes are all pre-taped, however, which means this new feud was actually a thing long before rumors of Shelton's exit started to percolate in the most tawdry corners of the celebrity internet.
Shelton has been on every season of The Voice since its inception, so his removal would be a stunning development for the show. Rumors of his exit have made headlines before, most notably in 2016. At that time he told Hoda Kotb that he was very happy and hoped to stay as long as he could. Earlier this year he pivoted slightly, saying he plans on slowing down professionally before too much longer.
The Voice airs on NBC on Monday and Tuesday nights at 8PM ET.