The Gargoyle was unmasked during the April 26 episode of The Masked Singer. NFL player Keenan Allen was revealed as the Gargoyle. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with the football player — who has quite the voice — about why he decided to do the show.
“I love the show. I’ve seen a bunch of people do it before like T-Pain and Teyana Taylor and just kind of fell in love with their performances,” the Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver said. “I always wanted to do it. I was wanting to be a part of that experience and, obviously, wanted to show my music side. I have kind of a split personality that goes into a different atmosphere and being able to shed a light on that side of me is great.”
Keenan revealed he’s actually been singing since he was 8 years old. He started out being a part of the gospel choir at his church and then participated in the chorus in middle school. The NFL player even has more musical plans in the future. “Absolutely. I’m doing that as we speak,” he told HollywoodLife.
While Keenan is used to heavy football gear, he admitted that it was “really difficult” to perform in the Gargoyle costume. “The mask in itself was just all foamed out, so it was hard to breathe,” the 30-year-old said. “You couldn’t really see that much. It was more nerve-wracking about what could happen versus just going out there and singing just because you couldn’t see a lot. You had to hold the mic at a certain position, which was tough. It was difficult. And those wings I had on… jeesh.”
His football training did prepare him for The Masked Singer but “not as much” as he thought. “Obviously, I play in front of thousands of fans all the time, but the difference is you’re playing with 22 other people on the field at the same time so everybody’s looking at you, but not really,” the athlete said. “With this thing, you have the mic in your hand. Everybody’s looking at you, and you can’t really mess up. You’re singing somebody else’s song, so you really don’t want to mess up but then again you’re not really comfortable. It was tough for me because I’m not a professional singer or anything like that.”
He didn’t have “stage fright,” but Keenan admitted to being “starstruck” by Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, and the other Masked Singer panelists.