Wouldn’t it be nice?
Carnie Wilson, the Wilson Phillips singer who is also the daughter of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, is speaking out about her daughter.
“I just wanna say, we’re human, and the internet is so cruel. It can be so cruel,” she said during Sunday’s “Music of the ’90s” panel at 90s Con in Hartford, Connecticut.
Wilson was there with her bandmates, sister Wendy Wilson and Chynna Phillips, joined by AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys. Her remarks were in response to her daughter Lola Bonfiglio’s “American Idol” audition, which aired March 23.
During the episode, Bonfiglio, 19, introduced herself and her father, musician and producer Rob Bonfiglio, to “American Idol” judges Carrie Underwood, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.
“I’m guessing you come from a musical family,” Underwood said, before asking her what she would perform.
“First, I have to get some family members,” Bonfiglio said before grabbing her mom, Carnie, and aunt Wendy — who are co-founders of the ’90s pop group.
They sang the 1992 Wilson Phillips hit “Hold On” and got “yes” votes from judges Underwood, Richie, and Bryan, which sent her to the Hollywood week of auditions.
Despite this victory, Wilson said there were still “comments” that “were really pissing me off, and I can’t respond.”
She was referring to comments on X, formerly Twitter, such as one that read, “Lola ‘Phillips’ Bonfiglio sounded worse than 90% of the No votes … pretty blatant favoritism by association.”
Another commenter wrote on YouTube, “How is this a fair audition? No one has others singing with them. But I like her as a person.”
Another person said, “I have nothing against that sweet young woman, but, there is no way she would have made it through without her famous Mom in tow.”
A fourth commenter wrote, “She’s ones from a line of amazing singers. However, This is the perfect example of someone who is an average singer using their connection to help them. Maybe she has more to offer but I wasn’t as wowed as I have been with other singers.”
Wilson said, “Would you encourage a doctor’s son not to be a doctor? No. Would you ever say, ‘Don’t be a doctor because your dad’s a doctor’? Lola wants to be a singer, and they say these terrible things, and she was so hurt.”
The singer added about her daughter, “It was the scariest thing she ever has done. She was trembling with nerves, and she did great.
“I’m so proud of her, and they asked us to sing, you know, so we came and crashed the party. I don’t think that Lionel and Carrie Underwood and Luke knew we were gonna be there, so that was fun.”
