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America’s Got Talent fans have been taking to social media to accuse the show’s judges, particularly Howie Mandel and Simon Cowell, of being too harsh in their critiques of the Season 18 acts.

The complaints come after the recent round of Live Show qualifiers, which have seen the judges hitting their Red X buzzers more frequently than normal. Given that the judges themselves selected the 55 best acts from the auditions, viewers have found it odd how often they’ve been picking faults with their own choices.

“Y’know, I’m really sick of #howie buzzing acts in the finals. The people are voting now, #stfu. Time to retire,” wrote one fan on Twitter/X.

“Why is Howie so mean and upset all the time? Did he forget to eat his Wheaties?” added another, while one viewer wrote, “Howie is cranky in his old age and that’s all there is to it!”

Responding to the criticism of the judges being too harsh, Mandel told Parade, “I don’t know if we’re being more harsh, as much as we’re just being in the moment and real and authentic.”

He continued, “If you think in the moment that ‘Oh, my God, a lot of people sitting at home are turning the channel, or if they’re watching it on YouTube, they’ll click onto something else,’ the buzzer is our remote control — and then I feel bad. I don’t want to make anybody feel bad, but I think that we are getting paid to at least share what we think.”

Last week, hip hop dancer Erica Coffelt and the Sharpe Family Singers were both subjected to the buzzer treatment.

Fellow judge Heidi Klum told Parade, “I thought that the buzzing, especially for that family, was wrong. Because, for me, it was a song choice more than talent. They are very talented that family. To me, every single one of them sounded absolutely incredible. To me, I wish they had sung a different song. For me it was that, it was song choice.”

Mandel agreed with Klum’s assessment but also explained why he feels justified in hitting the buzzer.

“Here’s how I comfort myself,” he stated. “It doesn’t matter what I think because ultimately America is going to choose. If they’re really mad at me because I disliked something, vote for them and show me how wrong I am. There’s no right or wrong. Talent is subjective; it really is.”

“The point is I could give somebody a red buzzer and I was reading on X, where people thought I was totally wrong and they thought that group was amazing,” he added. “They’re not wrong. I’m not wrong. And you know what? If you think I’m totally wrong, then vote.”