Harry Connick Jr. Reveals He Was Hospitalized After ‘American Idol’ Accident With Ryan Seacrest

It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Harry Connick Jr. revealed the one time he was hospitalized after Ryan Seacrest jumped into his arms during an old season of American Idol. The singer was filling in as guest co-host on Live with Kelly and Ryan while Kelly Ripa is out when he decided to share the story.

Connick Jr. explained that on the American Idol set, Seacrest jumped into his arms — with the end result landing Connick Jr. in the hospital. “I went back to my dressing room and I told my assistant, ‘I don’t feel so good. I feel dizzy, I feel like I’m gonna maybe vomit,’” Connick Jr. said. “And she said, ‘Maybe we should go to the hospital.’ I didn’t think about what happened. I remember when you [Seacrest] jumped into my arms it was kind of like a ‘ping!’.”

“It was a dream come true, Harry. Come on,” Seacrest joked. Connick Jr. then continued with his story saying, “And I went to the hospital and [the doctor] said, ‘You know you’ve been fairly, severely, concussed.’” Currently, Connick Jr. could laugh about the situation, but at the time, he was confused. Since he was laughing with the audience, Seacrest then chimed in with, “Let’s not laugh,” but said it while also laughing.

“So he jumps into my arms and when you watch the replay of that, Ryan’s head kind of clocked me under the chin,” Connick Jr. detailed. “But it was completely accidental I would assume.” Seacrest then followed that up by saying he would never purposely hurt his friend, adding, “It was completely accidental and I didn’t think I could hurt you so I felt terrible.” Connick Jr. went on to explain how he was not able to perform at his shows the next few days due to the concussion.

When the American Idol host asked if his friend was OK now, Connick Jr. jokingly called him Brian and said, “Brian, everything is fine. I have no problem, Brian. Everything is completely intact.” The two hilariously went on to add more details to the story, and their audience seemed to love it.

Connick Jr. first worked on American Idol in 2010 as a mentor during Season 9 for the top five finalists and then returned in 2012. The following year in 2013, he was asked to be a full-time judge for the hit competition series alongside country music star Keith Urban and Latin and Pop artist Jennifer Lopez.