The Tuesday, September 23, episode of America’s Got Talent was tinged with a bit of controversy after Mel B. made a confusing comment to finalist Micah Palace following his Finals performance.

After the rapper performed, Mel offered her reaction to the show, then said, “I just want to give you a few words of advice. You have to be nice to everybody. The crew, the people that dress you,” Mel said. “Because if not, you’re gonna meet them on the way back down, anyway.”

The comment seemingly came out of nowhere, and even fellow judge Simon Cowell was confused. “What do you mean?” he asked. Before Mel could respond, Howie Mandel began giving his feedback to Micah about the performance, but Cowell was not ready to let it go.

“I’ve just gotta butt in here,” Cowell said. “I’ve seen you, Micah, backstage, and this is my own perspective, [but] you’ve been really polite and sweet to everybody.” He then directed his next response to Mel, adding, “So that was out of order.”

Cowell’s praise received an overwhelming reaction from the audience, who applauded in favor of Micah. It’s unclear exactly where Mel’s message stemmed from, but People reported that her “intentions were to simply pass on the best piece of advice she received as a young performer to another rising star.”

When Micah got his chance to speak on the situation, he shouted out his mother in the audience and said, “My mom’s here right with me and she raised somebody to always treat people respectfully. My apologies to anybody if there was anything, that was never my intention. All love to everybody.”

Micah is one of 10 finalists on Season 20 of the talent competition. A winner will be named during the live Wednesday, September 24, episode after all of the performers took the stage for a final time on Tuesday. Ahead of the finale, host Terry Crews will recap the season with a special “Countdown to the Finale” episode at 8/7c.

America’s Got Talent, Season 20 Finale, Wednesday, September 24, 9/7c, NBC