Massapequa Park's Jesse Findling eliminated from 'American Idol'

 Massapequa Park singer Jesse Findling will be returning home after Monday’s roller-coaster live edition of "American Idol." At the beginning of the show, host Ryan Seacrest announced that Findling had made it into the top 12 finalists. But at the end of the two-hour program, it was revealed he had not garnered enough viewer votes to continue on to the top 11.

The 20-year-old Findling had performed Oasis’ “Wonderwall” in this live “90s Judges’ Song Contest” round. Like the other contestants, he was given a choice beforehand of three 1990s tunes chosen by judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood.

He picked Oasis’ 1995 hit over Bryan Adams’ "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” and Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” — the latter of which Findling said he had considered performing during last week’s “Songs of Faith” round. He incorrectly guessed that country star Bryan had chosen “Wonderwall,” revealed moments later to have been Richie’s choice.

An impressed Underwood told Finding, “I would have picked that [song] as the last one you’d have picked, but you did your thing and it worked.” Agreed Bryan, “Great job. You did your thing with it. A great song choice — and, man, that was one of my favorite things I’ve seen you do.”

At the start of the show, host Ryan Seacrest revealed that Findling had made the top 12, following the eliminations of 19-year-old Julián Kalel, of El Paso, Texas, and Jake Thistle, 21, of Paramus, New Jersey, based on viewer votes for the March 30 live episode. This week's immediate elimination at the beginning of the program followed last week's surprise move to delay the final results after the show’s tabulators needed more time to count the votes that would reduce the field from 14 to 12.

Findling is a 2023 Massapequa High School graduate currently on a spring-semester break from Binghamton University, where he is a junior majoring in biology.