A number that could have been very poorly received. A contestant was removed from the first broadcast of ‘Mask Singer’ in the United Kingdom due to the title and lyrics considered inappropriate of the song he was to sing, following the tragic fire in a bar in Switzerland which claimed 40 lives, reports The Independent.
The character of Red Panda was removed from the first episode of the 2026 season of the famous singing competition broadcast on Saturday December 3 on ITV in the United Kingdom. According to The Sun, the broadcaster cut 10 minutes from the episode to remove the mystery star’s first performance.
“In light of the tragic events that occurred in Switzerland, we have made the decision to remove Red Panda’s performance from the programming on the show The Masked Singer tonight due to the content deemed indelicate of the theme and lyrics of the song,” said a spokesperson for British public television channel ITV.
« Burn, Baby, Burn »
According to the British tabloid, the star hiding under the mask of Red Panda was to sing the title “Disco Inferno”. The lyrics of this song by the group The Trammps, dating from 1976, evoke a very hot evening at a nightclub, with the repetitive chorus: “Burn, Baby, Burn” (“Bûle Baby,burn”, in French).
Note that the personality hiding under the mask of Red Panda is not eliminated and will have the opportunity to perform in the coming weeks, the show said in a press release.
As a reminder, a violent fire broke out in a nightclub in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve, leaving 40 dead and 119 injured.