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'AGT' Comedian Usama Siddiquee Stands by Controversial Heidi Klum Joke (Exclusive)

By Zach Seemayer‍ 3:19 PM PDT, August 26, 2020

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Stand-up comic Usama Siddiquee made a big impression on Tuesday's America's Got Talent, but not exactly in the way he might have hoped. The comedian took a big risk with one joke that ended up rubbing Heidi Klum the wrong way -- but he's still standing by the joke itself.

"All love to Heidi. I mean, she's a star, she's worked as a judge," Siddiquee told ET's Kevin Frazier during a video chat interview on Wednesday. "I mean, you know, comedy creates reactions in people, it's a very powerful kind of art form where you say something and people have visceral reactions to it."

That being said, when asked if he wanted to take it back, Siddiquee said, "I don't want to apologize… I stand by the joke."

As he took the stage during the third night of the AGT live quarterfinals, Siddiquee started off strong and had the judges laughing along for most of his bit -- but then he ventured into territory that some viewers deemed to be sexist.

Siddiquee made a joke about club music and said that, a long as there's a good beat and a good drop, the DJ could say anything he wanted, even if it's "women shouldn't vote."

"Beats are just too fun. When that beat drops, so does feminism," Siddiquee joked. "Some of you are skeptical, but I'll prove it. Heidi, if I called you a tramp, you'd be like, 'How dare you!'"

However, Siddiquee argued, if he had a good beat going in between repeating the word "tramp," she might not mind it as much.

It turns out that Klum did mind, however, and expressed her distaste for the joke, which she felt was insulting, after his routine.

"It wasn't calling her a tramp at all. It was talking about how lyrics are not looked at when there's a beat behind it," Siddiquee explained to ET. "So the joke I'm not apologizing for, I love the joke. I love what I did, I had a great time."

"All love to Heidi, all love to all the judges," he added.

For her part, Klum told ET on Tuesday, after the episode, that she thinks Siddiquee is "a very good comedian."

"I just didn't love his material so much today. It was just not for me," Klum explained. "It's hard to be a comedian now, to know what can you joke about still, but I don't know, to me, it was not so funny."

Fans will get a chance to see if Siddiquee moves on to the semifinals on Wednesday, when the third AGT quarterfinal results show kicks off at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.