‘The Voice’: Blake Shelton Has NSFW Message for Adam Levine After Exit

Adam Levine announced in May that he would be exiting The Voice after being a part of the show since its premiere in 2011, with judge Gwen Stefani returning to fill his spot for the upcoming Season 17. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, fellow judge Blake Shelton let Levine know how he feels about the exit, cracking, “Adam’s not on the show and I want him to know that he can still kiss my a— wherever he is right now.”

The “God’s Country” singer also admitted that filming the show without Levine will be an entirely different experience.

“Literally, you know, with Adam being gone, I’m not gonna lie, that was scary. It’s weird,” he said. “Without him here, it’s literally shocking to not have him here.”

Shelton previously told Extra that while he suspected Levine might be gearing up to leave the show, he was still surprised by his friend’s announcement.

“I didn’t expect it. I didn’t expect Adam to pull the trigger like he did,” he recalled. “We all knew he was getting to the point — it was 16 seasons he had been doing the show, and it’s hard to keep him focused on anything. He was ready to move on.”

With Levine’s departure comes the return of Shelton’s girlfriend Stefani, who previously served as a coach on the reality competition. While Shelton “couldn’t be happier” about Stefani’s return, he did note to ET that he’s much more competitive than the No Doubt singer at “any kind of game.”

“You know, she wants to win and I want to win and that’s what they pay us to do on this show is to try to win the show,” he said. “It’s harder for [Gwen]. She’s not, she’s not competitive. She’ll be the first to tell you right up until it gets competitive and then all of a sudden she is.”

Joining Shelton and Stefani will be judges John Legend and Kelly Clarkson, who previously served as judges during Season 16. Darius Rucker will serve as Shelton’s advisor, Normani will mentor Clarkson’s contestants and Stefani has teamed up with will.i.am to help her team.

“Darius Rucker is the perfect choice for, I would say, anything in my life,” Shelton told ET, joking, “I mean, I have been drinking.”

“He’s the perfect choice as a mentor on The Voice for obvious reasons,” he added. “I made a joke earlier to one of the artists on the show, I go, ‘You know Darius literally has proven that if he decides whatever it is he wants to do in life, he conquers it.’”

Season 17 of The Voice premieres Monday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

Photo Credit: Getty / Gabriel Olsen