Gwen Stefani Supporting Blake Shelton In “American Idol” Ratings War Is Made-Up Story

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A story about Gwen Stefani supporting Blake Shelton in a “ratings war” with “American Idol” was made-up. It’s also provably false. Gossip Cop can easily debunk the story.

TV industry observers are keeping close watch on the “American Idol” reboot, especially since it airs at the same time as “The Voice.” In their first head-to-head broadcast this past Monday, “The Voice” easily beat “Idol” in the ratings. Now HollywoodLife is claiming to have “exclusive details” on how Stefani wants Shelton, the NBC competition’s winningest coach, to “kick ratings butt.” A so-called “source close to Gwen” is quoted as saying, “Gwen has been totally supporting Blake and really wants him to kick Katy Perry’s butt in the ratings war.”

Well, given that Stefani has been dating Shelton for more than two years and served as a coach on “The Voice” herself, it’s hardly a scoop to suggest she’s “supporting” him and wants to see the show succeed. Any person could rationally come to the same conclusion. It’s more suspicious when the site’s supposed snitch goes on to allege Stefani is “doing everything she can to help her man Blake come out on top while dueling ‘Idol.'”

“Gwen has been in his trailer watching tapings, giving Blake notes while sharing words of encouragement during the latest season,” claims the purported tipster. Here’s how Gossip Cop knows this is a lie: “The Voice” is currently airing pre-taped episodes, having just finished broadcasting the Blind Auditions this week. The pre-taped Battles and Knockouts rounds will follow. These were all filmed a while ago. In fact, the season 14 Knockouts for “The Voice” took place in early February.

Production does not start up again for the Live Playoffs until April 16, according to “The Voice” ticketing agency. That means it’s impossible for Stefani to be currently sitting in Shelton’s trailer, watching as he films. No filming is taking place now, hasn’t for over a month, and won’t for another month. If HollywoodLies, as it’s nicknamed, had a real “source,” it would know this. Instead, it was just caught in a major flub that proves the blog is full of it.

And after that screw-up, the website’s clearly fictional insider goes on to assert Stefani “has been keeping a close eye on Katy and all the action on ‘Idol’ too.” Mind you, a mere two episodes have aired so far. And like with “The Voice,” those shows were pre-taped as well. Given that all of these episodes are already locked down, all that can be done to drum up ratings at this point is to heavily promote them. Shelton has been posting about “The Voice” on Twitter, but he’s done that every season in recent years. It has nothing to do with “Idol” returning.

Furthermore, while this tale is all about Stefani supposedly “doing everything she can” to assist Shelton in this “ratings war,” she hasn’t tweeted about “The Voice” at all since the season premiered two and a half weeks ago. Although there’s no reason to doubt Stefani does want the show to ultimately prevail over “Idol,” it is abundantly clear this flawed “exclusive” was manufactured and is largely untrue.