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Celeb revealed as “The Masked Singer”'s Space Ranger thinks he'll be 'first and only' to do a Taylor Swift song
@Source: ew.com
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Masked Singer season 13, episode 5, "Ghostbusters Night."
Who you gonna call? For this week (and this week only), it's the ghostbusting detectives of The Masked Singer panel!
That's right, get out your proton packs and look out for the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, because it was Ghosbusters Night on the Fox reality show this week.
To celebrate, OG ghostbuster Ernie Hudson joined in for the intro and reappeared later to give a clue to Boogie Woogie's identity. Star of 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife and 2024's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Mckenna Grace, also popped in via video to give a very telling clue for Griffin.
This week, Pearl kicked things off with “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult, which was followed by Griffin singing “Disturbia” by Rihanna, Space Ranger doing “Cleanin’ Up the Town” by the Busboys, and Boogie Woogie's rendition of “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons.
Lucky Duck also briefly appeared again, this time to make fun of Ken Jeong's guess of George Clooney being Boogie Woogie. He also gave another hint for the character: “If you want the real meaning of that clue, use your brain, you know… the grey matter.”
When it was finally time to eliminate someone, it was Space Ranger who unfortunately was sent back to his home planet. Luckily, the panel fared much better this week, with everyone but Jeong correctly guessing that Space Ranger was Grammy-nominated rapper, hip-hop artist, and beloved reality TV star (and self-professed King Swiftie), Flavor Flav. This leaves Griffin, Pearl, and Boogie Woogie to battle it out next week in the Group B finale.
Ahead, Entertainment Weekly chatted with Flav about what it was like being the first person to perform a Taylor Swift song on The Masked Singer with last week's "Bad Blood," performance, his hilariously brutal thoughts on the "easy ass clues," his take on Nick Cannon being a fanboy of his, and more.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How are you?
FLAVOR FLAV: I hope I ain't boring. I'm just like a plane up in the sky, just soaring. Wow. I'm talking to Entertainment Weekly, huh? Hey, lemme tell you something; that defines Flavor Flav. You know why? Because Flavor Flav is always entertaining everybody weekly. I swear to God. [Laughs] Wow. [Points to our Taylor Swift 1989 cardigan] I see you got on the sweater. I see you got the sweater on — Swifties in the building! Yes, sir.
I understand you have one just like it.
I sure do. Hey, you're talking to the King — King Swiftie in the building!
I guess I have to start there because it's so fitting, but did you know that you were the first person in Masked Singer history to do a Taylor Swift song on the show?
Yes, I found out. I know. And they've been trying to get a Taylor Swift song cleared for years, and they could not do it. And they finally cleared one because of Flavor Flav. Taylor Swift and them cleared one for me. You know what I'm saying? And I'm so honored and grateful to Taylor Swift and her team for clearing me to do a Taylor Swift song, on The Masked Singer. And I'm going to tell you like this, I bet you any amount of money, Masked Singer will not get another Taylor Swift song. It's the first and only. I'm telling you, I don't think they're going to clear any more. Not unless I go back on the show again, and I couldn't go back on the show again now because my voice is so distinctive. I would give myself away. But I was given away too easy this trip, man.
I agree. It was very obvious immediately, to me anyways, that Flavor Flav was Space Ranger.
Because you took my voice and you matched it up with the "PE" that was in the corner of the screen. Come on now, everybody knows. See, let me tell you something. When you hear Morgan Freeman's voice, you know that's Morgan Freeman. When you hear Samuel L. Jackson's voice, you know that's Samuel L. Jackson. Or when you hear James Earl Jones' voice, you know that's James Earl Jones talking. Same thing with Flavor Flav, because I'm the most sampled voice in the history of music, and I'm the most distinctive voice in music and television. So you could take my voice, put it together with them easy ass clues. Come on. A caveman could have figured that out. You know what I'm saying? The PE that was up in the corner of the screen. And then not only that, but then they're talking about the hardware that I wear around my neck. [Pulls up said hardware] I mean, come on now. Who else wears hardware around their neck? You feel me? Clocks — everybody knows Flavor Flav and clocks. And then the third clue was that belt, that clock belt that I had on my costume, which was another one of the biggest clues and one of the biggest giveaways.
Were you disappointed to go home so soon?
I wish that they didn't give me away so easy, because I did want to last on that show a little bit longer because this is a show that's been on my bucket list to do. And now being that I got a chance to knock something off of my bucket list, I really wanted to have a lot of fun with this moment, which I did still have a lot of fun. I'm not going to lie. I had a lot of fun being on The Masked Singer and jumping in and out of that costume. It was challenging, but it was really fun. And I said, I know I can make it work. And all I got to do is a good job because I'm the original hype man, no matter what. And I was stoked to be able to get out on that stage and hype up the world. I'd love to go back on the show though, and do a guest appearance or something like that — as Flavor Flav this time.
I've got to tell you, speaking of Space Ranger and TMS firsts, I don't think I've ever seen Nick Cannon that excited to have someone on the show or that disappointed to see them go.
Well, let me tell you like this, I was just as stoked as Nick Cannon to be up on that stage with him. And when Nick Cannon said, "Come on, y'all know who this is. I know exactly who this is. This is one of my most favorite people on the planet." When he said that, you don't know how honored I was, man. To hear those words come out that man's mouth, because I've always been a Nick Cannon fan, too. You know what I'm saying? I'll tell you, like I told everybody else, before Nick Cannon was wilding out, I was wilding out first since 1986. Okay? You know what I'm saying? So it was a real big moment for me, to be on the stage with Nick Cannon and also to be on The Masked Singer stage period. That was big to me. And I really, really had fun with the song selections that they gave me as well. I'm saying I wish I could have stuck around and did the other two songs that they had for me. And I'm not going to even mention what those songs are now, because it's irrelevant, because I'm not there and I didn't get to do it.
But I really did have fun doing "Bad Blood." And also, I really had fun doing the Ghostbusters song, "Cleanin' Up the Town." And "Cleanin' Up the Town" was my most challenging song. And the reason why it was my most challenging song is because my short-term memory ain't all the best now, but still in all, it was a lot for me to remember. And I did it. Your boy Flavor Flav pulled that bad boy off. Okay? I pulled it off, and I think I really did a good job. I am my biggest fan. I do amuse myself, you know what I'm saying? And when I see that I amuse people, and they're having fun with it, it makes me want to do even better the next time.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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