The Masked Singer bosses in the US have spoken out amid speculation that Rudy Giuliani’s controversial appearance on the show was cut from the final broadcast.
Last month, it was widely reported that the former New York mayor and advisor to Donald Trump had been unmasked during a taping of the show.
According to Deadline, Giuliani was the first celebrity of the new season to be unmasked after belting out a tune for the panel, prompting judges Ken Yeong and Robin Thicke to walk off in protest.
However, when The Masked Singer US returned on Wednesday night, Giuliani was nowhere to be seen, prompting some fans to speculate that the backlash to his unmasking may have led producers to cut his appearance completely:
A statement from Fox Entertainment to Newsweek said: “The show’s general format features three groups across the season, and like most productions, the groups are not necessarily taped sequentially, so we don’t always know the order they will air.”
Newsweek also confirmed that Giuliani’s reveal had “not been cut from the show’s schedule”, suggesting it will air within the next two weeks.
Earlier this year, Giuliani was subpoenaed by the House committee who are investigating the attack on the US Capitol in January last year.
Giuliani was one of the most prolific voices claiming the 2020 US election result was rigged, and was among the speakers at Trump’s rally on 6 January 2021.
That day, he told the crowd that voting machines were rigged and that the matter needed to be settled with “trial by combat”.