Reality TV and Its Republican Problem

The seventh season of The Masked Singer US will premiere on March 9th. The latest crop of characters (including the 100th costume ever seen in the US version) come in three different categories – the Good the Bad and the Cuddly – and include such strange competitors as Space Bunny, Queen Cobra and Firefly. As usual they will provide performances ranging from the bizarre to the brilliant, before steadily being unmasked as sports stars, TV personalities and singers. Unfortunately, anticipation for the series was derailed in spectacular fashion when a leak claimed that the line-up of mystery celebs included Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Anonymous sources provided a fairly detailed account of the reveal, stating that panellists Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong temporarily left the studio in protest. The early reveal attracted outrage from many political commentators, particularly on the political left and centre, as Giuliani’s appearance represented the most recent and extreme example of a persistent trend of right-wing political personalities – particularly those tied to the Donald Trump administration – appearing on US celebrity gameshows and reality TV. Why is this the case, and what can we do bring political balance to these shows?

Who is Rudy Giuliani and Why Is His Presence Such A Problem?

There are few figures who embody the deterioration of American Conservatism as thoroughly as Rudy Giuliani. After rising to prominence as an Attorney General, Giuliani was elected Republican Mayor of New York in 1993 and proved a polarising figure. His focus on “Cleaning Up” New York led to a decline in crime and a rise in tourism, (Although critics contend the former was due to reforms established by his Democrat predecessor) but it was accomplished through traditional right-wing policies such as privatisation and aggressive policing. These often came at a heavy price - Under his tenure, the NYPD pursued the “Broken Windows” policy, which advocated aggressive responses to petty misdemeanours such as Graffiti, Cannabis use and Panhandling. Needless to say, this approach exacerbated police corruption and brutality, and fuelled the institutionalised racism that remains a problem today. Furthermore, his focus on new projects to make NYC more attractive certainly contributed to the city’s gentrification problem. However, towards the end of Giuliani’s second and final term, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurred. Giuliani gave several powerful speeches, contributed heavily to rescue and recovery initiatives, and appeared to be the brave and decisive leader than most Americans wanted at that moment. In the immediate aftermath, his approval rating doubled to 72%. This allowed Giuliani to end his Mayoral career in a high - TIME Magazine crowned him their Person of the Year for 2001, and he even received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth. However, attempts to build on this fame proved unsuccessful, and a bid to become the Republican Presidential candidate in 2008 fizzled out quickly.

If Giuliani’s political career had stopped at this point, him appearing on frivolous celebrity shows would be less problematic. The issues with making right wing politicians appear “fun” would remain, but his 9/11 success would allow most people to accept him as a celebrity, a more unusual example of the millennial nostalgia which talent shows and gameshows like The Masked Singer seek to exploit. However, Giuliani began his journey from questionable to monstrous when he attached himself to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. Though he refused any Cabinet roles, he advised Trump on some of his most toxic policies including his infamous Travel Ban. In 2018, Guiliani became Trump’s personal attorney, and things deteriorated from there, as the man who made his name prosecuting the Mafia became involved in various shady legal arrangements, such as the Ukrainian scandal that resulted in Trump’s first impeachment. When Trump lost the 2020 General Election, Giuliani became one of the more prominent proponents of the “Election Fraud” conspiracy theories, leading many of the lawsuits designed to overturn Trump’s loss. Even after the January 6th Riots confirmed the destructive ramifications of these conspiracy theories, Giuliani continued to push the “Election Fraud” narrative, and his fall from grace was confirmed when several regional legal authorities officially disbarred him. Though he officially stopped working with Trump shortly after he left office, Giuliani is still under investigation for his role in many of Trump’s dirtiest dealings.

The decision to include Giuliani is especially toxic due to the sheer extent of damage he did as Trump’s advisor and attorney and the fact that his misdeeds occurred a relatively short time ago. His previous status as “America’s Mayor” has so been thoroughly overshadowed that it is impossible to continue giving him respect and recognition for it. At best, including Giuliani gives the sense that The Masked Singer is nonchalant about his recent misdemeanours, at worst, it gives the implication he is actively being rewarded for them.

Republicans on US Reality TV

The controversies surrounding Giuliani’s rumoured appearance are exacerbated by the fact that The Masked Singer has provided representation for notorious Republicans in the past. The most controversial competitor on the third season was Sarah Palin, the aggressively right-wing Alaskan governor who was appointed the Republican Vice-presidential Candidate in the 2008 election. The woman who once came terrifyingly close to becoming one of the America’s most powerful people performing “Baby Got Back” (Sir Mix-A-Lot’s infamous tribute to big butts) whilst dressed as a cuddly pink and purple Bear is the sort of bizarre mixture that highlights the unique appeal of The Masked Singer, but Palin’s presence created an ugly shadow that made it harder to accept the performance as the silly fun it was intended to be. On one hand, this sort of ridiculous form of self-mockery seemed to embody Palin’s total loss of political influence, but it was a hollow victory, as Palin was free to humiliate herself on TV at a time when her populist wing appears to have decisively won the battle for the soul of the Republican Party. Palin claims to have been considering a political comeback, and if it amounts to anything, a lot of people will blame her appearance on The Masked Singer for laying the groundwork.

The controversies over the presence of Republican personalities truly became a subject of liberal concern in 2019, when Donald Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer was a contestant on Dancing With The Stars, the American version of Strictly Come Dancing. Despite his complete lack of dancing ability, Spicer made it all the way to the final six due to votes from Trump loyalists. Long before this, Sarah Palin benefitted from a similar phenomenon when her daughter Bristol made the Grand Final of Dancing with the Stars in 2010. They aren’t the only openly right-wing political figures to appear on Dancing With The Stars - FOX News personalities Tucker Carlson and Geraldo Rivera and the Republican politicians Tom Delay and Rick Perry all appeared on the show since it started way back in 2005. (Fortunately, all of them made early exits). Even American Idol, a show focused on creating new celebs rather than extending the fame of existing ones, fell into this sort of Republican promotion. One of the auditionees was Claudia Conway, the daughter of Kellyanne Conway, another of Trump’s propagandists, and the show exploited this link by having Kellyanne and her husband accompany their daughter in person throughout Claudia’s time on the show. Conway Jr. was eliminated during the ”bootcamp” rounds, but it is likely that the Conway name would have led to her going further than she deserved.

However, there is one show that embodies the link between Reality TV and Trumpism more than any other – That show is the original version of The Apprentice, which Donald Trump hosted until he was fired by NBC in 2015 for the anti-Mexican comments he made during the early stages of his presidential bid. The first series of the show was a smash hit when it premiered in 2004. However, fatigue quickly set in, and like most American reality tv shows, it tried numerous gimmicks to “freshen things up” before being cancelled after an LA set 6th series overloaded with unnecessary twists. After this, it went into Celebrity Editions, where celebrities of varying degrees of fame competed to win money for charity. An attempt at reviving the civilian series in 2010 proved to be a catastrophic flop, and (co-incidentally or not) Trump openly begun promoting “Birtherism” conspiracy theories about Barack Obama around this time, and in doing so established himself as one of the major voices of far-right populism in America. By the time Trump applied to become Republican leader, The Apprentice was an outdated relic relying entirely on the feuding of the celebrity contestants and their various bizarre ideas. However, its initial popularity certainly allowed Trump to acquire a reputation for being a successful businessman and its longevity further contributed to this. A replacement series was made in 2016 and hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger (A Republican, but one who has made no secret of his contempt for Trump) but proved a ratings disaster. Progressives did not want to watch a show now completely associated with Trump, whilst right-wingers were still cross over the way their new idol had been dismissed from the show. Although The Apprentice is an exceptional case, the presence of Trump’s disciples on other Reality TV shows highlights the extent of its toxic influence on entertainment.

Why Do Right-Wingers Have Such A Strong Presence on These Shows?

There are several reasons why the supposedly neutral, apolitical environment of has been affected by the far right. First of all, Reality TV shows have their largest audience in Southern “Red states” such as Indiana and Kentucky – of the ten territories where Dancing With The Stars was most popular in 2018, eight voted for Trump at the previous election. The culture and values of the “Red States” have consistently shaped American TV - The most notable example of this the dominance of White Guys with Guitars” or other country-inclined musicians on shows like American Idol and The Voice. The need to cater to “Southern Pride” also applies to other reality TV shows - The most recent series of The Masked Singer USA included two celebrities who owe the majority of their popularity to a stereotypically Southern fanbase – Larry the Cable Guy and Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson. Many fans have called for a boycott, but there is a real risk that this could reinforce the reliance on Southern audiences and thus ensure that the political right continues to be overrepresented.

There is also a sense that left wing personalities view reality shows such as The Masked Singer as “beneath them” and see them as an empty distraction from the many issues and problems affecting the world. Opinion pieces on the appearances of Giuliani and other right wingers tend to carry the implication that the popularity of celebrity TV gameshows only benefits the right wing, but seem to ignore the possibility that it could go the other way. Part of the problem is the general lack of left-wing political figures. Although the Clintons and Obamas are household names, casual audiences would be hard-pressed to name another former Democrat politician with even a fraction of the name recognition they gained through eight years in the presidency. Though several Democrat politicians – Beto O’Rourke, Pete Buttigieg, Stacey Abrahams, and of course AOC and the other members of The Squad – have cultivated strong personal brands in recent years, there are few who could be described as “Celebrities” in the same way as Giuliani, Palin or the various FOX Pundits and Republican Press Secretaries who have taken advantage of the platforms offered by reality TV. It’s telling that the only Democrat politician to appear on DWTS is Jerry Springer, better known for hosting the notorious Trash TV talkshow that bears his name than his earlier career as former mayor of Cincinnati.

No-one watches shows like Dancing with the Stars or The Masked Singer for political commentary, and that’s entirely fine. Campy, gaudy escapist spectacles like these aren’t the ideal forum for detailed or radical political messages. During its six seasons, the only time The Masked Singer really acknowledged socio-political issues occurred when Todrick Hall used one of his performances as Bull to promote the #FreeBritney movement, which was supported by politicians from both parties – Pushing to free a beloved popstar from an abusive legal arrangement is the sort of that cause that both right wingers and left wingers can get behind with little guilt or anxiety. For all the discussion of whether politicians are using these shows to whitewash” their images, they generally have the same reasons for appearing on these shows as most of the other competitors – they enjoy watching them and think it would be fun to participate. However, when only right wing figures take advantage of this – at a time when people from their side of the political spectrum are promoting a particularly destructive and reactionary approach – it tends to reinforce the unhealthy levels of media power and influence that they enjoy.

Regardless of your own personal political opinions, there will always be a large audience for right wing beliefs, such as a “small state” and deference towards “traditional” institutions and values (The police, the church, the Founding Fathers, etc). 74 million Americans voted for Trump in 2020, and we can’t discard their opinions and perspective entirely. However, we can ensure that the extremes of Trumpism aren’t glamourised or condoned. In this context, giving a consistent public platform to particularly vocal members of Trump’s team without a left-wing counterbalance is certainly a dangerous idea.

Reality TV and Politics Elsewhere

It’s useful to compare the situation in America to the situation in other countries, to see whether the dominance of right-wing political celebs is a specifically American problem. Sadly, it isn’t. One of the most egregious instances of a right-wing politician engaging in “image laundering” on The Masked Singer occurred in the Italian version, where one of the contestants in Season 2 was Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the notorious facist leader Benito Mussolini, who led Italy into its infamous collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. Mussolini’s gruesome comeuppance hasn’t stopped his descendants from being involved in Italy’s populist right, and these parties often attract a significant voter base in a country notorious for its fragmented political system. Alessandra spent a 28-year political career alternating between neo-facist populism and more conventional conservatism and found herself involved in numerous scandals- one of the most infamous when she made a set of anti-Romanian comments that caused her party to lose its power bloc in the EU parliament. Whilst it can be argued that Giuliani was invited onto TMS due to his pre-Trump career (even if it makes the producers seem completely oblivious to the changes of the last 6 years), Alessandra Mussolini’s early fame as an actress and model was pretty minor, and there is no doubt that she was chosen for the show due to her political infamy. In addition, it was pretty evident that Alessandra Mussolini was using the show to reinvent her image – she appeared on The Masked Singer Italy in January 2021, less than two months after she announced her retirement from politics. In this context, it’s clear that the problems with the right wing and reality TV aren’t solely due to the peculiarities of the US political system.

However, in countries where the far right has less of a political presence, things tend to be more evenly balanced. In British reality TV, the majority of tend to centrist/centre-left figures from the “New Labour” elite who dominated British politics at the turn of the millennium. Examples would include Strictly Come Dancing competitor Ed Balls, and Alan Johnson, who is currently the only UK politician to appear on the British version of The Masked Singer. An exception to the stereotype of far left regarding these shows as distracting junk occurred when George Galloway, (a former Labour MP who defected from the party over the Iraq war in order to form the Respect Party) appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006. However, his antics merely made him into a national joke, and also demonstrated the toxicity of his own brand of politics. Bringing “far left” radicals onto TV does not solve the problems generated by the far right, and in some respects can make them worse. However, it does provide a welcome inversion of the right wing bias that has become a tiresome cliché on celebrity gameshows elsewhere.

However, focusing on Reality TV can be misleading. There are several instances where more highbrow shows ended up enabling the rise of populism as well. Boris Johnson’s rise to power in Britain has often been attributed to his role as a regular panellist on the satirical comedy panel show Have I Got News For You. Although Have I Got News For You is famous for poking fun at the hypocrisy and corruption of politicians like Johnson, his appearances fuelled the idea that he was “in on the joke” is one of the reasons why Johnson’s numerous scandals and misdeeds have frustratingly little effect on his popularity. British political shows in general have often strived for a form of “balance” with people from all sides of the political spectrum represented, but this means that the political fringes must be given some representation. As a result, media-savvy members of the far right (especially Nigel Farage) can gain a disproportionate amount of influence, and views such as Brexit and Climate Change Denial get disseminated to a wide audience in a seemingly respectable environment. It can be even worse in other countries, as far-right rabble rousers such as Jair Bolsonaro and Eric Zemmour used panel shows and political comedy to promote their political beliefs for before entering politics and making a run for the presidency. The fact that respectable “Political TV” has done as much to fuel as trashy gameshows can certainly fuel cynicism about the wider media industry. Therefore, solutions to the problem of the far right media dominance need to cover the entertainment sector as a whole.

Conclusion

There is no such thing as being “apolitical”, particularly when hiring contestants famous for their political views and political influence. For this reason, the persistent presence of right wing political figures on US reality TV can have a toxic effect on media discourse and culture. However, for all the issues with the genre, the reasons for their presence are more complex than the mere right-wing biases of producers. A lot of it is based on the need to cater to certain demographics, and the fact these people simply registered their interest first. However, these shows need to set a positive example, and this entails being willing to turn down people who promote particularly toxic and dangerous viewpoints. The solution to the current problem is not to boycott these shows, but find ways of forcing them to balance out their political approach. Get more openly left wing celebrities, bar extremely right wing ones, and ensure that Republican troublemakers like Giuliani are held fully accountable for the damage they have caused. For all the issues with The Masked Singer, its blend of silliness and positivity makes it a wonderfully enjoyable and addictive bit of reality TV escapism, and it would be great if we were able to enjoy it with less guilt or discomfort.