Spears reportedly wanted more than $13 million, as Lopez made $12 million for her first go-round as a judge. (Bryan Steffy/WireImage)
Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears are jockeying to be the highest paid judge on the musical competition series circuit, reports say.
According to TMZ, Spears allegedly demanded to be paid more for her first season of “The X Factor” than Lopez made on her first season of “American Idol,” which aired in 2011. A source tells the site that while Spears initially asked for $20 million to become a judge on the show, she was willing to negotiate. However, the source furthers that the star set her absolute bottom at $13 million — as Lopez was reportedly paid $12 for her first judging stint on “Idol.” TMZ reports that Spears ended up signing for $15 million, in between the two numbers.
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Meanwhile Lopez, recently named the Most Powerful Celebrity in the World by Forbes, is playing coy with Fox about signing on for a third season of “Idol.” She recently told Ellen DeGeneres, “I really do enjoy [the show]. Now this is my second year. I don’t know if I can go for a third year. It really does lock you down.”
But when reports surfaced that she had opted out of continuing on the show, Lopez took to Twitter to set the record straight.
“There is no truth to reports that say I am definitely leaving ‘Idol,’” the triple threat wrote last week. “All I said was I haven’t decided what I am doing next year. When I know for sure what I’m doing I will let the #LOVE!RS know.”
While Lopez could be weighing her options, she could also be attempting to make producers sweat in order to up her paycheck. While TMZ reports that Lopez got a nice raise for her second season on the show, they believe that she may want to make sure she remains better paid than Spears, as “Idol” ratings are down.