Paula Abdul is gone and Simon Cowell is out after this season — but reliable Randy Jackson says he won’t be leaving “American Idol” anytime soon.
“I’m there for a while. I still have some time left on my contract,” Jackson told The Post yesterday.
Jackson will be around for at least another season on TV’s biggest show, he says.
“We’ll see what happens [after that] and see what the future brings,” he says. “You never know.
“I still have some time to go past this season,” Jackson says. “And we’ve built an amazing franchise that can go on for another five or six years.”
(An “Idol” spokesman said the show never comments on contracts or negotiations.)
Since “Idol” launched in 2002, Jackson has been the professional, steady, dependable alternative to Abdul’s loopy unpredictability and Cowell’s withering tongue.
But while he’s never generated as many headlines as Abdul or Cowell — or even Kara DioGuardi, who joined “Idol” last season and flashed her bikini-clad body in the Season 8 finale — Jackson says that’s just fine with him.
“I don’t necessarily feel ignored in the situation,” he says of all the attention lavished on the others.
“Look, I’m a musician. I’m a music guy. That’s my world, my life,” he says. “So whenever I had antics, I was always on stage, performing.
“I’m just happy to be part of this team and I don’t feel slighted at all.
“I’m so blessed to be on this amazing ship of a show and it’s a great ride.”
That “great ride” will get a jolt when Cowell departs “Idol” in May to focus on the Fox launch of his British hit, “The X Factor” — leaving only Jackson and show host Ryan Seacrest from the show’s original lineup.
“I’m a little sad the team is changing,” Jackson says. “After this season it will be only me and Ryan, and it will be a different kind of thing, a different feeling.
“I think the chemistry changes and I think the show changes — it grows in a slightly different direction,” he says.
So does Jackson think “Idol” producers should replace Cowell with a Simon-type judge?
“We always say this on ‘Idol,’ that if you’re gonna dish it, you gotta be able to take it,” Jackson says. “And that’s what I think most people who want to be a judge on this show don’t quite realize.
“I don’t think there’s anyone quite like [Simon], so I think trying to find someone similar to him is not really the answer, at least to me,” he says.
“Anyone can be harsh, anyone can do that. But it’s deeper than that . . .
“Most people think they need somebody tough to ‘tell ’em like it is,’ but do you [as a judge] know how it really is?
“There’s nobody like any of us [judges] and we kind of developed our own thing as we came onto the show,” he says.
“And I think that’s part of the show’s success — we all have our distinct styles.”