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ITV apologises for reminding people that Natalie Cole is dead

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 28 January 2020

ITV has apologised after Jonathan Ross suggested that a performer on its ‘The Masked Singer’ show might be Natalie Cole. As many people apparently pointed out on social media when the episode aired on Saturday, Cole has been dead since 2015 and would therefore struggle to appear on any form of primetime Saturday night light entertainment TV show in 2020, masked or otherwise.

“This was a genuine mistake by the panel”, the broadcaster said in a statement. “We apologise if this caused any upset to viewers”.

While it’s already clearly very shameful indeed that Ross didn’t memorise the mortality status of all singers before filming the show, apparently no one else involved in the ITV programme knew that Cole was dead either. Hence the very much incorrect guess remained in the final edit that was broadcast. Either that, or they did know, but they assumed that an incorrect guess was all part of the entertainment, even if the guess was so definitely wrong due to deadness.

The show – which originates in South Korea and has had versions broadcast in numerous countries – is currently airing its first UK series. The format sees twelve celebrities sing while dressed in costumes which also cover their faces. They’re masked, you see. Some of the celebrities are actual singers, while others are just shit chancers. They compete against each other in a singing competition, with one masked singer being voted off by the studio audience each week. At that point they are unmasked and everyone goes “oh” and then gets on with their life.

It doesn’t sound very entertaining, but apparently there’s fun to be had guessing who each of the singers is. Obviously the non-singer celebs behind some of the masks are harder to guess, what with their singing voices less likely to have been heard before. Those eliminated so far include politician Alan Johnson, footballer Teddy Sheringham and ‘Eastenders’ actor Patsy Palmer.

You’d think the professional singers would be fairly easy to guess though, but apparently it’s not always that simple when they’re not performing their own songs and you can’t see their faces. And that would be why Jonathan Ross thought that one of the performers was Natalie Cole – who would be about to turn 70 if she were still alive – when it was actually, it turned out, Kelis.

Asked why she agreed to hide in a daisy costume for five weeks (I’m assuming they all stay in costume 24 hours a day until they’re eliminated), Kelis said: “People have just been telling me my voice was distinct my whole career, so I thought, well let’s see just how distinct it is”.

Natalie Cole was unavailable for comment.