Ever since American Idol crowned Jamal Roberts as its newest champion, fans of the long running series have been quick to criticize the singer. During a half-hour long Facebook live session, Jamal answered fans harshest questions.

Jamal Roberts Admits His Manager Convinced Him to Audition for American Idol

American Idol‘s newest winner hopped on a live stream on May 22, where he talked about all the rumors that came about after the competition. The Facebook live took place on May 22, four days after he won Season 23. At the time of the live stream, Jamal was tending to his newborn daughter home in Meridian, Mississippi.

He took this time to address the rumors that he was being taken advantage of by his longtime manager, Carlton Cofield. Cofield was often seen cheering Jamal on during American Idol. Jamal’s manager owns Atlanta-based company, Soultowne Marketing. The company specializes in representing gospel, R&B, and hip-hop artists.

Apparently, Cofield was the person who convinced him to appear in 2020 on BET’s “Sunday Best” singing competition. He finished in third place in the BET competition. Cofield was also the person who convinced Jamal to audition for American Idol. Apparently, he had auditioned for the competition show three times before getting a ticket to Hollywood.

“After Sunday Best, I was through with TV,” Roberts explained in his Facebook Live session. “But he pushed me to go on American Idol. Y’all, I was not going on American Idol at all if it wasn’t for Carlton putting me on American Idol, telling me to audition. Your boy be right at the house, just gigging. Because, like, I didn’t want to go through that again.”

Jamal went on to detail that he “didn’t want to be another statistic.” Since he had put his everything into joining the show multiple times before.

He Says His Manager “Don’t Take a Dime From Me”

Later in the live stream, Jamal acknowledged that there was “a fake page” claiming that his manager was “crooked” and taking money from him. Jamal denied these claims, saying “that’s not true at all. He’s very much the reason why I’m where I am today. I don’t want you guys to get it twisted.”

“Let me tell you something about my manager,” He said. “He don’t take a dime from me. Everything he booked, every amount that’s paid, he gives straight to me and my kids. He says, ‘I’m here to help you, I’m not here to break you.’”

The singer admitted that he and Cofield have been working together for seven years, yet the manager still doesn’t take a fee. Jamal claims that his manager is “authentic,” “real,” and “family.”

Before ending the live stream, Jamal went on to discuss that he knew rumors would surround him after winning American Idol, so he’s not extremely surprised about the fake pages popping up.

“We positive vibes over here, no negative Nancies over here, got it?” Roberts said. “I’m just gonna start unfollowing, you know? Just get them out. Just get them on out the way. Let somebody that got some sense come in. Because if God gave us sense, you need to start using (it), because when you don’t, you start looking ignorant.”

Before turning the live stream off, the singer reminded fans to be mindful of everything they see online, since there are a lot of fake things being shared online, specifically on Facebook.