Lionel Richie reacts to Katy Perry exit from American Idol

Katy Perry's sudden departure from American Idol shocked many; co-judge Lionel Richie was one of them.

Appearing at Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Hello singer said, "I'm not mad," but added, "It just made me run off the road when I first heard about it," jokingly noted, "My phone blew up."

Besides, the Grammy winner revealed that the Dark Horse hitmaker did not keep him in the loop about her decision.

"No, we didn't know about it, but it makes sense," he added. "In other words, The reason I love coming on the show with you and the reason I'm doing American Idol is because I have 400 years of stories and a life in the music business. I have things that I've done."

Noting, "And so when Katy says, 'I want to go and create some stories,' remember, she's young. But the point is that you have to take some time and actually be an artist."

Further, Lionel said he had no idea who would take Katy's seat. 

"You know, they are keeping tight-lipped because I don't even know, but I'm telling you, It's gonna be really interesting."

"Only because, I'm telling you something, this is a great show. And what I love most of all is that we're artists, so we know what we're talking about, and these kids are scared to death," he continued.

"So I love sitting there as the wise poo-bahs, the three of us, and we're sitting there, and we're all kind of giving information that we know is real."

He added, "So whoever's coming on the show has got to be, well, to come past Katy, you've gotta be humorous forever and, on top of that, knowledgeable."