After being loudly, decisively condemned by the internet, Fox’s stunt casting of corrupt politician and Donald Trump crony Rudy Giuliani on The Masked Singer didn’t even provide the boon to ratings that the network was likely expecting. In fact, in an embarrassing twist, viewership of Wednesday night’s episode unmasking the former New York City mayor sunk to a record low.
The Korean-import reality singing competition has been teasing Giuliani’s episode since the season premiere in early March. But the public caught wind of the controversial casting decision before the show even aired when Deadline reported that judges Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke walked off set in protest of the jaw-dropping unmasking.
The instantly infamous episode, which finally aired last night seven weeks into the season, was somehow even more unsettlingly 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. Actually, calling what he did “singing” is generous. He kind of just spat out the lyrics in between incredibly labored breaths, not at all adhering to the song’s familiar melody.
His performance unsurprisingly received the least votes (because, again, it was absolute flaming garbage), resulting in his unmasking and elimination. The judges' responses to the shocking reveal were a mixed bag, with Ken Jeong practically stunned silent by rage and an elated Jenny McCarthy thanking Giuliani for blessing them with his presence. Nicole Scherzinger clearly had no idea who she was looking at and even asked if he was Robert Duvall, which is a big yikes. Online criticism was swift and severe.
And in the end, it was not even worth it. According to Variety, Nielsen data indicates that viewership of the disastrous episode was the lowest it has been all season with a total of 3.6 million viewers. The demo-rating was 0.6, down from the 1.0 rating of the season premiere on March 9. Previously, the lowest number of viewers came last week with 3.9 million people tuning in.
The meager audience paled in comparison to that of timeslot competitors Survivor and Chicago Med. Imagine portraying a guy who has actively tried to sabotage American democracy on multiple occasions as a silly, harmless old grandpa in a parrot costume, just to lose viewers to Dick Wolf’s least interesting franchise.
What’s that they say about karma?
