Heidi Klum has come under criticism after buzzing a dancer during her performance on America’s Got Talent.
Amanda LaCount, a 19-year-old from Colorado, danced in front of the judges in a recent episode of the talent show.
In an introductory segment, LaCount explained that when she was younger, a dance studio director once told Amanda’s mother that her daughter’s body type “didn’t fit” his team.
Nevertheless, LaCount kept pursuing her passion thanks to her mother’s support – and ended up in front of the America’s Got Talent judges.
She began dancing to Todrick Hall’s ”Nails Hair Hips Heels”, earning cheers and claps from the audience.
But about 40 seconds into her performance, Klum hit her buzzer, which is judges’ way of expressing their dissatisfaction with an act.
If all four judges press their buzzers, the performer has to end their set.
Klum’s buzzer was met with boos from the audience. LaCount was able to finish her set, eventually earning a standing ovation from the crowd as well as judges Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara, and Simon Cowell.
Viewers on Twitter expressed their strong disagreement with Klum’s decision to buzz LaCount, with some viewing it as an instance of “bullying” and “body-shaming”.
“Heidi Klum body-shaming that girl. That’s exactly what that was!” one person wrote.
“.@heidiklum #AGT What you did to that dancer that you said no to was a form of bullying!! Most of the acts on the show are not ‘million dollar acts’! She needed to be validated by all of you for her courage and work.” someone else tweeted.
After LaCount’s performance, Vergara and Cowell both gave the dancer positive feedback and a “yes” enabling her to progress to the show’s next stage. Mandel had some reservations but was convinced by the crowd to award LaCount a “yes”.
Klum gave the dancer a “no”, generating boos from the audience.
The Independent has contacted Klum’s team for comment.
It’s now officially official: The U.S. is getting the 2026 Honda Prelude. While the news isn’t a surprise, it had only been strongly hinted at up to today, when Honda confirmed as much. The hybrid two-door Honda coupe will arrive on our shores later in 2025 and will do its best to keep up the performance end suggested by its appearance despite its humble-origins hybrid system shared with the Civic, Accord, and others.
Key to this performance feel will be the use of a seemingly Prelude-exclusive (for now) Linear Shift Control, which Honda says will give the coupe “the feel of a conventional drivetrain shifting gears” at wide open throttle. While this sounds utterly banal, it’s actually big news given the way Honda’s current hybrid setup works: There is no conventional type of transmission between the drive wheels and the engine, certainly not one that can be “shifted” from gear to gear in the traditional sense. Instead, a large electric motor does most of the motivation, while the gas engine feeds power to it via a smaller motor-generator unit; the engine can be clutched into a single-speed direct-drive gearbox to help assist the drive wheels in certain scenarios where it’s deemed more efficient to do so. Thus any “shifting” would be entirely faux, much like the simulated rev dips in the Honda Civic and Accord Hybrid models; it’s not yet clear whether Linear Shift Control differs from that programming in any way, though it could by handing over control over those “shift” points to the driver. This also confirms our suspicion that Honda wouldn’t be able to release a true manual or even a DCT version of the Prelude while using its hybrid powertrain.
This “Linear Shift Control” will be joined by a new driving mode called “S Plus Shift,” stylized as “S+ Shift.” Again, according to Honda, this will improve the feel of the 2026 Prelude by maximizing “the efficiency of a high-performance engine and high-output motor, finely controlling engine RPM across all acceleration and deceleration ranges based on driving conditions.” This aggressive feeling is matched to an active sound controller for “powerful auditory feedback” and “responsive meter that engage the senses.”
Honda clued us in to this system during the Honda 0 prototype drives back in October, but at the time it said to expect this auditory system to be released on all-electric Hondas by 2028. It seems like Honda has created a version that can be applied right now to the 2026 Prelude, and we expect a version dedicated to full electrics in the coming years.
