American Idol's Kara DioGuardi is thrilled Ellen DeGeneres has been hired as a new judge.
"I'm a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan," she said in an interview airing Friday on Sirius XM's The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick. "I think she's going to bring so much to the show."
"Yeah, I got slagged," she said. "People were … it was difficult for them to accept the change. It was difficult for them to understand why somebody who nobody had ever heard of could kind of come out of nowhere and sit next to these iconic figures. You know, why was I there, what did I do to deserve to do to be there?"
On her Twitter page Thursday, Abdul, 47, wrote: "I think Ellen will b a gr8 judge on Idol. She is wildly funny, talented and I wish her the best of luck!"