Ryan Seacrest Reveals His Touching Connection to Josh King After ‘American Idol’ Elimination

After 24-year-old “American Idol” contestant Josh King was cut from season 23 on May 5, 2025, host Ryan Seacrest revealed the singer’s heartwarming connection to his charitable work.

King has been lauded for trying to sacrifice his spot in the top seven so 16-year-old Mattie Pruitt could advance, and it turns out those kinds of acts of kindness are common from the Charlotte, North Carolina, native.

In an Instagram video posted on May 7, Seacrest’s charitable foundation shared that long before auditioning for “American Idol,” King was regularly volunteering at Charlotte’s Levine Children’s Hospital in its Seacrest Studios facility, a multimedia broadcast center that opened in 2013 to allow celebrity guests and young patients perform, interact and create fun content for patients.

Captioning the video, the Ryan Seacrest Foundation wrote, “Josh King may be saying goodbye to the @AmericanIdol stage, but his music journey is far from over 🎤💫 When he’s not performing for millions, he’s bringing music, laughter and light to patients at @LevineChildrens through ‘Tunes at Two’ in #SeacrestStudios. We can’t wait to see where his talent takes him next”

Josh King Says He Started Volunteering at Seacrest Studios After His Sister Was Hospitalized

The Ryan Seacrest Foundation’s social media video showed a conversation between Seacrest and King at his audition for “American Idol,” which took place last fall but aired in early March. King revealed that he started volunteering at Seacrest Studios in 2017, after his sister experienced “complications” that landed her in the hospital.

King told Seacrest that he would perform each Tuesday afternoon for patients, explaining, “I go in, I set my piano up, I’d play for an hour, we called it Tuesday Tunes at Two. And, you know, you have kids come down from their rooms, and they would watch and listen.”

Seacrest, whose foundation has built similar studios at more than a dozen children’s hospitals across the U.S., chimed in, “But it gives them something to (help them) forget about what they’re going through.”

“It does, and that’s exactly why I did it,” King replied.

“And they smile and laugh and have fun, and they sing along,” Seacrest added.

King called it a “very rewarding experience” and told Seacrest, “I enjoyed it so much, just being able to have that opportunity just to do something good for the community.”

The video showed King playing his keyboard at Seacrest Studios throughout the years, as well as cards kids and staff at the hospital made for him after he made it through to Hollywood.

Telling King his generosity was “amazing,” Seacrest said, “You’re making a lot of kids and staff happy.”

Fans Touched by Josh King’s ‘Heartwarming’ Volunteerism

The video of King, who has also been a volunteer piano player at Charlotte’s Douglas International Airport for several years, was flooded with comments from fans who were touched by his acts of kindness.

One wrote, “Ooh wow!!! This is so amazing,, crying happy tears! Josh is so talented and such a kind person! (He’s funny too!) Blessings follow those who Bless others. Looking forward to an album in the near future 🤞🏼🙏🏼💯💯💯💙💙💙”

Another weighed in, “This is very heartwarming! He’s such a talented, sweet young man. God knows his heart and has good things in store for him! ❤️🙏🏻”

King, who emotionally shared on “American Idol” that he had few friends back home and cherished the friendships he made on the show, wrote on Instagram after his elimination, “This show saved me, and I hope y’all understand just how much it means to me to be a part of it.”

“The production and crew were also freaking amazing to work with,” he continued. “We would not have American Idol without every single one of them behind the scenes holding the chaos together. This show can be intense at times, but they are VERY good at what they do. It was awesome as a contestant knowing that they were behind us every step of the way, and I can never thank them enough for that.”