One of the most stunning America’s Got Talent moments in the franchise’s history aired on Tuesday when a 22-year-old contestant named Kodi Lee brought the teary-eyed crowd to their feet and made AGT history by netting a rare “golden buzzer” from the judges.
Lee’s mother joined him on stage to explain to the judges that he is blind and has autism. “Through music and performing he was able to withstand living in this world,” she explained. “Because when you’re autistic it’s really hard to do whatever everybody else does. It actually has saved his life, playing music.”
Lee then executed his take on Donny Hathaway’s “A Song For You,” which promptly dropped the judges’ jaws to the floor and even got the infamously cantankerous Simon Cowell to marvel that he would “remember this moment for the rest of my life.” Host Gabrielle Union used her once-per-season “golden buzzer” to usher Lee straight to the live shows.
You watch the whole thing below.
