Blake Shelton Jokes Adam Levine Quit ‘The Voice’ Because Of Kelly Clarkson

Blake Shelton is opening up about the real reason Adam Levine waved bye bye to The Voice – kind of. The country superstar joked about why Adam decided to call time on his coaching role earlier this year in a new interview, as he teased that his sudden and pretty surprising departure was actually all because of Kelly Clarkson.

The “God’s Country” singer put the blame firmly on Kelly as the twosome spoke to People ahead of the Season 17 premiere of the NBC singing competition. Blake opened up about appearing on the show for the first time ever without the Maroon 5 frontman by his side.

“But Kelly is the reason,” he quipped of why Adam really left, before Kelly quipped back, “I am not the reason.”

Blake then continued to tease Kelly, admitting that she had to be the reason Adam left his role because she’s now sitting in his vacant red spinning chair.

“But they put you in his chair and that’s kinda like the symbolism,” he said, to which the Kelly Clarkson Show host jokingly responded, “I think they put me in his chair because you dislike me as much. So, I think they’re like, maybe if we put her there, he’ll be as hard on her as he was on him.”

Blake also spoke candidly about how he really feels about Adam leaving the show in the new interview, where he gave a more serious answer about appearing on Season 17 without the father of two.

“He’s never not been here, you know and it’s just that guy that’s just over there constantly just makin’ you want to strangle him,” he said. “And now he’s gone and it sucks, to be honest with you.”

Adding that he found filming the singing competition without Adam “strange,” Blake continued to gush about having his girlfriend Gwen Stefani by his side. He said that having her around actually “helps with the weirdness” of his friend not being around anymore and also makes the show feel more “fun” for him.

The latest talk about Adam’s departure came shortly after Kelly opened up about what the show without the longtime coach is really like, as she admitted that the four coaches appearing on the current season have a great “dynamic” because they’re all so different.

“I love the four of us. It’s weird not having Adam, but it’s interesting the dynamic,” she said in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight ahead of the much-anticipated Season 17 premiere, which aired on September 23 on NBC.

Kelly recently spoke candidly about the relationship she has with Blake, Gwen, and fellow coach John Legend as she admitted that things had been “weird” without the “Moves Like Jagger” singer.

As The Inquisitr reported, fans have been weighing on the big change since the first episode of the show with Adam aired, with some mixed responses coming in from viewers via social media.