Panelists Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke reportedly left the stage in protest after Giuliani was unmasked during taping of next month's Season 7 premiere.
Rudy Giuliani’s tenure as a contestant on “The Masked Singer” is apparently quite short indeed, but it was still too long as far as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel are concerned.
Both late-night hosts took on the viral story after Deadline reported that panelists Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke both stormed off the stage in protest following the reveal of the former president’s attorney at the taping for the upcoming Season 7 premiere.
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“A truly shocking revelation, I can’t believe ‘The Masked Singer’ has had seven seasons,” joked Colbert. “When did that happen? And how did that happen?”
The “Late Show” host further joked that it was unclear if Jeong and Thicke had actually left in protest, or if perhaps they’d simply fled in terror. “I mean, one of the most chilling phrases in the English language is, ‘Surprise, it’s Rudy Giuliani!’”
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He then took his joke right to the edge of taste and borderline NSFW territory by adding, “Just ask the crew of ‘Borat.’ Nobody wants to see him whip out his head.”
Giuliani isn’t the first and only controversial contestant from the world of politics, though he is the first contestant to lead to a protested walk-off by anyone on the panel. Back in 2020, Sarah Palin competed as a bear — and she was also pretty awful vocally.
While Fox isn’t saying what song Giuliani sang or what he was dressed up as, the fact he was unmasked in the very first episode tells you just about all you need to know about how terrible he was.
According to Deadline, both Jeong and Thicke eventually made their way back to the stage, but fellow panelists Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger stuck around and participated in the usual banter with unmasked contestants.
It is unclear if the heavily edited show will include the walk-out or will retool footage, or even refilm things entirely, to make it look as if Jeong and Thicke stayed around. For all it casts such controversial figures, “The Masked Singer” tends to try and stay pretty light and empty-headed entertainment fare.
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Kimmel, though, was none too impressed with his casting, calling for the executive who greenlit it to get unmasked and then removed from television forever.
Colbert, though, wasn’t so quick to blame any of the upper brass at Fox. “Keep in mind it may not be the producers’ fault,” he said. “It’s possible that Rudy just wandered onto the Fox lot and passed out in a costume.”
Kimmel, though, was horrified over Giuliani’s involvement, and even his audience groaned audibly when he announced it. “Right?” Kimmel agreed. “That’s what I said.”
“The only people who should be unmasking Rudy Giuliani is the gang from Scooby-Doo,” he joked. “Let’s find out who the real traitor is.”
He went on to show a series of fake unmaskings of other controversial figures that were never actually on the show like O.J. Simpson, Kim Jong-un and Harvey Weinstein, saving the most heinous unmasking for last … Covid-19.
On top of questioning how Giuliani got cast on the show, Kimmel found himself wondering why he would do it. “Why would Rudy even agree to do this? Did he think he was going to The Masked Singer landscaping company?” He asked.
“Only Rudy Giuliani would try to overthrow the government, break wind loudly in court, sweat hair dye all over one press conference, have another one next to a dildo store and then try to rehabilitate his image by singing ‘Shake Your Groove Thing’ dressed as a pineapple.”
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