The Voice’s Tony Lucca vs Christina Aguilera: Did Justin Timberlake Cause A Mickey Mouse Club Stand-Off?

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Celebrity judge Christina Aguilera worries about Justin Timberlake’s “celebrity sway” on the voting process

A seemingly innocent tweet by Justin Timberlake turned things slightly sour between judge Christina Aguilera and The Voice contestant Tony Lucca

The Voice is getting heated, y’all. Contestant Tony Lucca, of course, is a Mickey Mouse Club alum who starred on the show in the early ’90s alongside folks like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and The Voice coach Christina Aguilera.

Things were a little awkward with Aguilera at the beginning, and Lucca decided to be on Adam Levine’s team, but Aguilera did support Lucca in the battle rounds. Monday night was a whole different story.

Timberlake, who has stayed in touch with Lucca since their MMC days and has frequently been photographed with his old pal over the years, tweeted his support for Lucca on Monday. “Tony Lucca @luccadoes performs LIVE tonight on #TheVoice Tune in and vote for my boy!!! #realtalent,” Timberlake posted.

It seemed a perfectly innocuous tweet. Lucca responded with a “Thanks homie!” and we didn’t think twice about it. However, it seems that Aguilera felt Timberlake’s tweet was inappropriate and was concerned that the celebrity support would give Lucca an unfair advantage in the competition.

On Monday night, Lucca performed Peter Gabriel’s anthemic In Your Eyes. In rehearsals, he’d struggled with the falsetto portions of the song, but by the time he hit the stage, his falsetto was strong – he’d clearly put the work into it.

Aguilera was unimpressed.

“Obviously we go back,” she told Lucca… but man, with friends like her, who needs enemies? “That was, ya know, a good performance. I just find you to be very one dimensional,” she continued, hoping to see him “grow from this stage” if he makes it further.

She then made an oddly-timed jab, pointing out that he obviously had the support of the MMC cast mates, particularly singling out Timberlake, but she was quick to note that she felt that Lucca’s celebrity friends shouldn’t rally for him. “You’ve got me and your old Mouseketeer buddies behind you. And Justin in particular. I hope this is really a contest about the voice. I think there are just better voices in the show, rather than a celebrity sway kind of thing,” she said.

It was an awkward moment, to the point where a clearly taken-aback Levine blurted, “That was honest.” The comment certainly resonated with Lucca, who tweeted, “#1dimensional” just seconds after he left the stage. Even The Voice’s social media team commented on the tense moment.

Lucca has been making a living in the music business for close to 20 years without having ever broken into the mainstream, so he brings a considerable fanbase of his own to the party. Plus, celebrity clout isn’t shunned on The Voice — Alicia Keys has actually appeared on the show in support of her former backup singer Jermaine Paul, and Keys is mentioned in nearly every segment Paul does.

So what’s the deal? Is Aguilera feeling a little competition from Lucca’s presence on Team Adam, or was she right about Lucca’s performance?