Good news for Adam Levine. The former Voice coach may finally start to live down the Season 15 gaffe that found him pleading with viewers to save one of his contestants (who had been too ill to sing) over another (who actually had performed). The show of favoritism dogged the Maroon 5 frontman until and even after he exited stage left ahead of Season 16.

voice coaches ranked
The Voice Coaches, Ranked

During Monday’s Season 25 Voice Semi-Finals, coach John Legend praised performance after performance, which is par for the course. But after Team Reba McEntire standout Asher HaVon slayed Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” (listen below), the EGOT winner went what was perhaps a step too far. After sharing that his dad had texted to declare that Asher “is The Voice,” Legend said, “Now I’m a little biased toward my team, but no matter what other factors people are voting on, I believe you’re the best vocalist in the competition.”

Technically, Legend may be absolutely right. Personally, I prefer his team’s Nathan Chester. Regardless, the show of support had to feel like a bit of a game-changing gut punch to Chester and teammate Bryan Olesen. Whatever their coach may say during Tuesday’s Semi-Finals Results Show (8/7c on NBC) or next week’s Finals, they — and the audience whose votes he will be courting — will know that he doesn’t see them as the cream of the crop.

How would you feel if you were Nathan and Bryan? Obviously, Legend didn’t mean to dis the contestants that he’d recruited. But it had to sting, no?