Kodi and his mom open up about how they hope the heartwarming moment inspires others with disabilities.
Kodi Lee is still on cloud nine after earning the golden buzzer on America's Got Talent.
The 22-year-old musician, who is also blind and autistic, wowed the audience and millions of viewers at home when he earned Gabrielle Union's golden buzzer on the season 14 premiere of the talent competition last week.
During an interview with ET's Denny Directo on Tuesday, Kodi couldn't contain his excitement. "It was so awesome!" he exclaimed. Kodi wasn't nervous, he shared -- but he was "happy nervous."
"He does not show the nervousness," Kodi's mom, Tina, chimed in. "He was meant [to be on stage]."
"Oh my gosh! Heck yeah [I expected the golden buzzer]," Kodi added.
Tina recalled seeing Kodi's passion for singing after watching Billy Joel and Elton John together in concert. He told his mom that he wanted to perform for thousands of people.
"I'm really proud of him for all his hard work. He's worked so hard to get here, and we've always had this goal," Tina explained, noting that with the millions of people tuning into the show and watching Kodi's audition on YouTube, they "exceeded" their goal. "That's a big number with a lot of love."
"During his whole life of music, you run into a lot of stigma," she shared. "You run into where a lot of people, when you say, 'Yeah, he's autistic and blind,' they kind of have that face of 'Oh, OK.' But then he would blow them away."
To hear Union and fellow judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel and Julianne Hough rave about Kodi's talent was a special moment for Tina. "It was really shocking for us, but it was nice to see the judges just fall in love with him and to really see his talent, through all of the disability," she expressed, noting she hopes Kodi's success inspires other families dealing with disability.
America's Got Talent airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. See more on the show in the video below.
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