Why is American Idol abandoning Maddie Poppe, last year's winner?

Variety

Poppe has been noticeably absent this season, except for a brief performance on the April 21 Disney-themed episode in which she wasn't able to plug her album coming out May 17. Poppe tweeted that "unfortunately, I won’t be returning to perform for the finale," even though she has an album due out two days before Idol's season finale. Variety reports that when Poppe inquired about performing in the three-hour season finale, she was told it was "already booked," which left her "devastated." “There has never been an Idol finale without the previous season’s winner,” says a source. “They have always been so supportive of past seasons.”