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The moment that had been rumored for months was finally here: Rudy Giuliani appeared on “The Masked Singer” on Wednesday night and was then voted out.
Giuliani, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, whose license to practice law was suspended in New York and Washington after making unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud and fueling unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Trump, appeared in disguise in the Fox reality contest for an elaborate Jack in the box costume.
“Is that Robert Duvall?” exclaimed Judge Jenny McCarthy when Giuliani was unmasked after he was deemed the group’s least talented singer following a performance of “Bad to the Bone.” Duvall was one of the previous judges’ guesses (McCarthy, Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger) along with Elon Musk and Al Roker.
“No,” Jeong said, looking disinterested. “That’s not Robert Duvall.”
In fact, no one guessed Giuliani, even with a reference in his introductory pack hinting at the “four seasons,” which some may recall from a particular press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping. His connection to Trump was not mentioned, and host Nick Cannon introduced him as a former assistant attorney general and former mayor of New York City.
“Well, Mr. Giuliani, with all the controversy surrounding you right now, I think it surprises us all that you’re here on ‘The Masked Singer,'” Cannon said; The episode was reportedly filmed towards the end of January, not long after Giuliani was subpoenaed by the House Committee of Inquiry into the January 6, 2021 riot in the US Capitol. “What made you decide to do this?”
Giuliani said he made the show for his granddaughter: “I want her to know that you should try everything, even things that are completely unlike you and unlikely,” he said. “And I couldn’t think of anything more dissimilar and unlikely than this. And I enjoy the show, I have for years, and it just seemed like fun. I can’t have much fun.”
As he began another rendition of the song, McCarthy and Scherzinger danced around happily. Jeong, who had been standing with his arms crossed, didn’t seem pleased. “I’m done,” he said, walking off the stage before Giuliani finished singing.
That sort of moment felt inevitable for “The Masked Singer,” a reliable place for chaos since its January 2019 debut. The first celebrity to be unmasked was NFL star Antonio Brown, who at the time was in the midst of a public spat with the Pittsburgh Stahlers. He’d skipped the game last Sunday, and here he was a few days later singing “My Prerogative” while dressed as a hippopotamus.
That set the tone for the series, which thrived on feeling like a fevered dream as viewers see an incredibly random collection of celebrities in elaborate and terrifying costumes sing. Producers love to cast controversial names, from YouTuber Logan Paul to singer Bobby Brown to former vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin.
But like most TV shows, ratings have dropped: The first season averaged about 12 million viewers per episode, including delayed viewing, and the numbers are now closer to about 5 million. While this is still considered a hit these days, it’s no surprise that the network (which hasn’t responded to a request for comment) would be looking for more shocking names to garner attention.
“You don’t get adverts for being safe, predictable, and nice. You have to constantly be pushing boundaries and outraging and angering people, so all the talk shows and discussions are like, ‘Did they go too far?’” said Richard Rushfield, chief columnist and editor of Hollywood newsletter The Ankler. “I think they would honestly say that if it upsets people, it’s good because that means they’re talking about it.”
After all, The Masked Singer’s producers never seem to have cared what the audience thinks: its panel of judges includes McCarthy, known for promoting the debunked link between vaccines and autism, and Robin Thicke, the singer of the heavily criticized hits “Blurred Lines.” Cannon was fired from ViacomCBS in 2020 after making anti-Semitic comments.
Still, the goofy costumes and performances (once Kermit the Frog was the unmasked celebrity) mean it can function as family-friendly television; or as executives call it, a “four quadrant show” because it can appeal to men, women, young viewers and older viewers.
“I’m sure there’s a world where people will tune in to controversy, but ultimately there can be a backlash when they compromise a viewer’s trust,” said Tom Nunan, former president of NBC Studios and UPN. “If you do a stunt like that, you could end up alienating whole parts of those quadrants. There’s a lot of risk involved – so you could see a temporary high, but what’s the price?
Nunan, an instructor at the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television, recalled that when he ran a network, stunt auditions always seemed appealing — but generally didn’t serve to make a declining show seem more relevant. “In a way, it signals to the audience … ‘Our boat is sinking,'” he said. “And people tend to want to jump off a sinking boat.”
Of course, Rushfield added, it’s possible that Fox assumes any criticism won’t matter in the long run.
“We’ve seen time and time again that with a lot of this type of thing, people who would tend to actually boycott and walk away from something are a tiny number of people who are primarily active on Twitter — and within three hours.” are they? I moved on to the next thing,” he said.
When news of Deadline first broke about Giuliani’s performance, there was an immediate backlash from people angry that the disfellowshipped lawyer had a chance to extend his time in the spotlight or attempt to build his reputation through reality television rescue. It happens every time a former Trump White House staffer does something similar: In 2018, Omarosa Manigault Newman starred on CBS’s “Celebrity Big Brother,” and admitted some of her regrets at working with her former “Apprentice” boss in the West Wing to have.
Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother. Last year, Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway made a cameo on ABC’s “American Idol” to support her daughter Claudia’s audition. And in 2019, lying-prone press secretary Sean Spicer was cast on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, a move that drew criticism from network staff and fans of the show.
Giuliani received the same gentle editing as he discussed his granddaughter and answered questions from Scherzinger about conducting weddings at his former mayoral job. “Your family will love this!” said Scherzinger.
But TV pundits agree that even if Trump-related appearances don’t turn out to be a big deal in terms of ratings, casting such controversial characters can hurt him in the long run.
“I don’t think Sean Spicer hurt ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and its ratings, but was it worth it?” Nunan said. “It used to be a really elite show where it could compete for Emmys. But once you launch it with those stunts, it feels desperate. I think it’s kind of like that ‘Masked Singer’ move – it’s a desperate move and the audience can see right through it.”