How Gladys Knight & Dionne Warwick Influenced Gopher to Do ‘The Masked Singer’

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 8 Episode 7 “Hall of Fame Night.”]

There was some Hall of Fame level talent on the stage in the latest Masked Singer, which introduced three new celebrities in costume.

Bride, Gopher, and Venus Fly Trap all took the stage in front of panelists Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, and Nicole Scherzinger, who were joined by guests Joel McHale and the late Leslie Jordan. (There was also a memorial card and tribute for the actor, who passed away on October 24.) While Bride is moving on, both Venus Fly Trap and Gopher were eliminated and unmasked as former boxer George Foreman and musician George Clinton, respectively.

Here, Clinton opens up about his time on the Fox hit.

What made you say yes to doing The Masked Singer?

George Clinton: My grandkids had been telling me for a while to do it. I saw Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick doing it and I knew I had to do it! I always wanted to do it! Everyone always thought I had done it already. But this time I DID IT!

Talk about that costume, especially moving around in it with where your head was in relation to where the Gopher’s head was. What appealed to you about it?

The costume was wild. [There] was some P-Funk type of costuming we had done back in the day with the Motor Booty Affair, some of those carnival costumes. So I was familiar with the heavy costumes. But you almost burned up in this thing. It was hot as hell in there. [Laughs]

Michael Becker / FOX

What went into your song choice?

They gave me three or four songs to choose from and the one that I chose I’m in love with. It was easy to pick from them. The one I did choose is from my era so I’m down with that.

What did you think of the panelists’ guesses? Robin figured you out, and Leslie Jordan seemed to have fun with his guesses.

I thought they was pretty good with the hints and the clues they gave ‘em. If you got some funk in you, you’d know what they was sayin’. So I agreed with the answer they gave when they recognized the funk. I couldn’t get away from that. If you got funk, you got style. They got some good judges up there.

What are you going to take away from the entire experience of The Masked Singer?

There’s always a new way to reinvent yourself or to be relevant or turnt in this TikTok generation. The Masked Singer is still one of those instances where you can still have some live fun and reinvent yourself for all generations. It was good to participate in this.

The Masked Singer, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox