After Fox’s stunt-casting of corrupt politician and Donald Trump’s sidekick, Rudy Giuliani, was vociferously and unequivocally condemned by the internet, The Masked Singer didn’t even bring the ratings boon the network probably expected. In an embarrassing twist, viewership for Wednesday night’s episode unmasking the former mayor of New York City dropped to a record low.
The reality singing competition imported from Korea has been teasing Giuliani’s episode since the season premiered in early March. But the public got wind of the controversial casting decision before the show even aired, when Deadline reported that judges Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke walked off the set in protest at the stunning unmasking.
The instantly infamous episode, which finally aired last night seven weeks into the season, was somehow even more disturbingly dystopian than expected. Costumed as a terrifying bird-like creature inside a Jack-in-the-Box children’s toy, Giuliani sang “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. In fact, it’s generous to call what he did “singing.” He just spat out the lyrics between incredibly labored breaths, not sticking to the song’s familiar melody at all.
His performance unsurprisingly received the fewest votes (because again it was absolute rubbish), leading to his unmasking and elimination. Judges’ reactions to the shocking revelation were mixed, with Ken Jeong practically stunned with anger and an enthusiastic Jenny McCarthy thanking Giuliani for blessing her with his presence. Nicole Scherzinger obviously had no idea who she was looking at and even asked if he was Robert Duvall, which is a big whoop. Online criticism was quick and fierce.
And in the end it wasn’t even worth it. According to Variety, Nielsen data indicates that viewership for the disastrous episode was the lowest of the entire season, totaling 3.6 million viewers. The demo rating was a 0.6, compared to the March 9 season premiere rating of 1.0. Previously, last week had seen its lowest viewership with 3.9 million viewers.
The meager audience paled in comparison to that of timeslot rivals Survivor and Chicago Med. Imagine portraying a guy who’s actively attempted to sabotage American democracy on multiple occasions as a dumb, harmless old grandpa rolled into one Parrot costume only to lose viewers to Dick Wolf’s least interesting franchise.
What do they say about karma?