Lionel Richie has reportedly filed documents to trademark a catchphrase he has created for his judging role on American Idol.
The Hello singer officially signed on to join the panel of the TV singing competition show in September (17) alongside country star Luke Bryan and megastar Katy Perry, and they began filming the initial auditions in October.
Richie appears to have been inspired by former Idol judge Randy Jackson, who famously prefaced his critiques with "Yo! Dawg" to come up with his own catchphrase.
According to editors at The Blast, he's planning to use the slogan, "Here Comes Da Judge" and in documents obtained by the news outlet, on 13 October, Richie filed documents to trademark "HERE COMES DA JUDGE" and "HERE COMES DA JUDGE - LIONEL RICHIE", which he plans to use on a diverse range of items including belt buckles, campaign buttons, sewing boxes, T-shirts, rugby shirts, and scented candles.
The other Idol judges have yet to share any catchphrases, but the trio appears to already have bonded judging by their debut appearance together on U.S. show Good Morning America last month.
The 68-year-old Grammy Award-winner joked, "It's as if we've been in school together for the last 40 years... excuse me, I should say 20 years." Fellow judge Katy added the trio are already "locked in. I think there's such incredible mutual respect and (everyone) knows their different wheelhouses."
"It's amazing the confidence this new generation has," Richie added, as he moved on to discuss the upcoming show. "What's coming down the pipe is going to be quite exciting."
The reality show, which moved to U.S. network ABC after it was dropped by Fox in 2016, returns in 2018.
