Shola Lee
Rudy Giuliani was revealed as a contestant on the US edition of The Masked Singer, prompting two of the judges to walk offstage.
Judges Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong left the stage in protest after seeing Giuliani on the popular Fox show.
Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, has long been a controversial Republican figure, and was Donald Trump's personal lawyer.
While the show is known for its surprise reveals, this one may have been too close to the mark.
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Following the reveal during the first episode of season seven, which has the theme 'The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly', two of the judges walked off, though Nicole Scherzinger and Jenny McCarthy stayed on stage, reportedly bantering with the politician.
Giuliani's reveal episode doesn't air in the US until next month, so it is still unclear which costume he is in.
While Giuliani was once heralded as 'America's Mayor' for how he handled the aftermath of 9/11, he has since become a divisive figure.
Giuliani supported Trump's baseless claim that the 2020 US Presidential Election was stolen from him.
The former mayor appeared at Trump's 'Save American Rally' on January 6, 2021, before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
At the rally, Giuliani made a polarising statement, saying, 'Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent, and If we are wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we’re right, a lot of them will go to jail. So let’s have trial by combat.'
Giuliani has since been subpoenaed and called to give a testimony by the House committee that is investigating the Capitol riots.
Speaking of the choice to subpoena Giuliani and others, the committee said, 'The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results or were in direct contact with the former president about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes.'
Due to this impending legal action, it seems odd that the divisive figure would appear on The Masked Singer.
However, this isn't the first time that the show has caused controversy with a political contestant.
In 2020, the show came under fire after Republican politician Sarah Palin was revealed to be 'The Bear'.
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