Judges Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong walked off in protest after Rudy Giuliani was revealed as a contestant on The Masked Singer’s US edition.
Thicke and Jeong left the stage after the former New York city mayor and Donald Trump adviser was unmasked during the taping of season seven’s first episode last week, Deadline reported on Wednesday (2 February).
Fox’s hit primetime series returns to television screens next month and the theme for this season is “The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly.”
According to Deadline’s report, Thicke and Jeong’s fellow judges Nicole Scherzinger and Jenny McCarthy remained on stage and “bantered” with the controversial Republican politician.
They returned to the taping eventually.
Giuliani, earlier praised as “America’s Mayor” for his handling of 9/11, has now become a highly polarising figure for defending the “big lie” or Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from him.
The Independent has reached out to Fox, Thicke and Jeong for comment.
The Masked Singer previously drew similar backlash in 2020 after controversial Republican politician Sarah Palin was unveiled as “The Bear.”
The show, based on a popular South Korean reality TV series, features popular celebrities wearing over-sized costumes (called “Traffic Cone”, “Banana Split” or “Grandpa Monster”) while a panel of judges tries to guess which celebrity is behind the mask.
The latest season of the UK edition is currently underway and available to watch on ITV.
Controversial Republican politician Sarah Palin was unmasked as “The Bear” when she appeared on the American edition of ‘The Masked Singer’ in 2020
(Fox )
Giuliani recently came under fire for selling signed 9/11 T-shirts for $911 (£677) on the website of WABC Radio, where the 77-year-old politician regularly hosts a programme.
The description on the page of the autographed shirts states that “Rudy Giuliani will personally autograph the 9/11 T-shirt” and that a “portion of proceeds go to the WABC Radio Foundation, a 501c3 charity”.
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Twitter users criticised Giuliani over the “gross” T-shirts, with one writing: “I can’t believe [Giuliani] only became this awful after sustained contact with Trump.”
Giuliani is currently staring at mounting legal costs over representing Trump in their failed attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Independent reported last year that Trump allegedly ordered aides not to pay Giuliani after he requested $20,000 (£14,750) a day for his work.
Season seven of The Masked Singer will premiere on Fox on 9 March 2022 in the US.
