Luke Bryan Claps Back After a Contestant’s Father Storms Out of Audition

American Idol always has us on our toes—there’s nothing like the terrible auditions that has the judges waving the contestant out of the room before they can get another bad pitch in.

But then there are the singers who are right on the cusp of making it to the next round and being sent home. That was 17-year-old Danica Steakley. She arrived ready to belt out her best tunes, alongside her father, Dan.

Like most parents, Dan was proud of his daughter. As he should be! Making it to audition for American Idol is no easy task. However, he may have been a little overly confident stepping into the room with Danica that day.

“The first time I heard Danica sing, I knew she was gonna be the winner of American Idol,” her father told the camera.

However, after hearing Danica sing, the judges all agreed: She was talented, no doubt about it—but they weren’t sure if she was talented enough to move on to the next level, let alone win the contest in its entirely like Dan had thought.

“Well, Dad, I know this is quite frustrating to hear, and for you too, Danica,” Luke Bryan commented after the audition. “You have all the makings to grow into a really, really, really great singer… you’re not quite ready to tackle this competition.”

After all of the judges spoke, Katy Perry was the only one who gave Danica a “yes,” while Lionel Richie and Bryan said she needed to work on her vocals a bit more.

Dad took this worse than Danica did—he stormed out of the room without even stopping to talk to Ryan Seacrest on the other end of the door.

“I don’t even know any Luke Bryan songs anyway besides ‘Knockin’ Boots’. Next time I’ll have her audition for The Voice,” Dan said as he walked down the hallway.

You can watch it all go down in the video below!

After the episode aired, which was the first time Bryan heard what Dan had to say, he tweeted a hilarious comeback for Dan.

“Welp, hopefully @DanicaSteakley’s Dad knows your songs @blakeshelton haha!” he wrote.

Fans thought the response was hilarious. Only time will tell if Dan has something else he’d like to say back!

Do you watch American Idol? What did you think of Danica’s audition and her father’s reaction? What about Luke Bryan’s comeback—did he go too far or just far enough?