Gladys Knight is making headlines for her amazing performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl on Sunday, but the legendary singer may also be part of one of TV’s most surprising hit shows of the year. After Knight wowed the audience with her performance of the national anthem at Super Bowl LIII, reality TV fans began to buzz that her voice seems to perfectly match the familiar voice of Bee on The Masked Singer .
While the show’s judges — Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, and Nicole Scherzinger — have guessed that Bee is Diana Ross or Dionne Warwick, fans of the show have long speculated that the mysterious character is a Pip-less Knight. Now, with Knight’s Super Bowl national anthem in the books, Masked Singer fans are more convinced than ever that it’s the legendary star behind that bee mask.
TV Line notes that past clues given on The Masked Singer reveal that Bee has been singing since the 1950s and is 5 feet 4 inches tall, which happens to be Knight’s height. In addition, like Knight, Bee has a lot of awards. And, photos of peaches were shown in the background during one of Bee’s performances, which could be a reference to Knight’s “peachy” Georgia roots or her 1973 hit song “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Knight also has no problem competing on TV reality shows, as she was a contestant on Dancing With the Stars back in 2012.
After Knight’s performance of the national anthem at the Super Bowl, fans flocked to Twitter to buzz that she is Bee on the Fox singing competition. You can see some of the reaction below.
The @MaskedSingerFOX Bee was fantastic at the Super Bowl just now. ? https://t.co/JlYp6STJDO
— Lÿndsey Parker (@lyndseyparker) February 4, 2019
I’d love it if CBS spoiled Fox right now by revealing that Gladys Knight is the Bee on The Masked Singer.
— Karen Bischer (@kbischer) February 3, 2019
Where’s Robin Thicke. Gladys Knight with that familiar vibrato. #SuperBowl #MaskedSinger
— Jen (@jenspili) February 3, 2019
Wow can’t believe they got The Bee from The Masked Singer to do the Star Spangled Banner #SuperBowl ? ?
— Alex Zalben (@azalben) February 3, 2019
@MsGladysKnight thank you for a beautiful rendition of anthem!! PS I knew you were the bee from day one on #maskedsinger I grew up listening to your voice
— Diane O (@ORoonie071) February 4, 2019
#TheMaskedSinger Masked Singer #BeeMask Wow when I heard the Anthem sung like that all I heard was #BeeMask ! I was thinking Bee was Tina Turner now I’m convinced its Gladys Knight! pic.twitter.com/IjK787r1EC
— mommy (@llmomlife) February 4, 2019
The Masked Singer has been a surprise hit this season as a variety of celebrities dressed as a rabbit, alien, unicorn, peacock, and more belt out songs while trying to keep their identities a secret. So far, Antonio Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Tommy Chong, Margaret Cho, and Tori Spelling have been unmasked on The Masked Singer , and several of them stumped the judges. Ken Jeong didn’t even recognize his TV sister, former Dr. Ken star Margaret Cho, when she was dressed as Poodle on The Masked Singer .
The Masked Singer has already been renewed for a second season, according to Variety . Fox’s president of alternative entertainment and specials, Rob Wade, promised that the second season of the hit show will be “even more fun, weird, and wonderful than the first.”
Take a look at the videos below to compare Knight’s Super Bowl performance of the national anthem to Bee’s performance on The Masked Singer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtdEjZHKstU
The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.
