Dwight Howard went on television and sang ‘Tutti Frutti’ in an octopus costume

As far as sentences I never expected to write go, “Dwight Howard went on national television and sang ‘Tutti Frutti’ in an octopus costume” would have ranked pretty high up there, if you had asked me prior to today. However, that is indeed something that happened, as the Lakers center and singing enthusiast was revealed as the latest contestant eliminated from Fox’s “The Masked Singer” on Wednesday night.

Here is the (truly strange) video of his unmasking:

But for those unaware, Howard is actually a passable singer. He has long had a passion for music, dating back to the children’s cover album he release while playing for the Orlando Magic in 2010, entitled “Shoot for the Stars.” It featured Dwight crooning slightly remixed classics ranging from “U Can’t Touch This (Howard Times)” to “Shout,” the latter of which Howard would on occasion blast at his teammates as the Lakers’ unofficial pregame DJ in 2019-20.

The entire album is available for $7.73 on Amazon and features one review, a five-star score from 2015 captioned “Arrived right on time...my baby nephew loves this CD!” So it comes highly recommended.

But you don’t have to take that reviewer’s word for it. Howard showed off his singing chops on “The Masked Singer” for the world to see:

Howard also gave an interview to Hollywood Life about his reasons for going on the show and more, and the first two answers are Peak Dwight:

Why did you want to do The Masked Singer?

Dwight Howard: Well, I like to step outside the box. I like to try things. I have an open mind, and this is something that would really be out of the norm for myself. I just wanted to try it to see what I could do. I feel like I’ve been singing my whole life. I was in the choir growing up. I was in a choir in high school. I love music, so why not just try to do something with singing? It actually gave me more confidence and more ideas and just gave me more energy, so I’m glad I did it.

There are so many costumes in The Masked Singer vault. What was it about the Octopus that stood out to you?Dwight Howard:

I feel like Octopus chose me. I felt like we kind of chose each other. I felt like we needed each other. I felt like the octopus has been misunderstood, and he needed somebody with some charisma and some flair and glare to bring out the mysterious side of octopus. Nobody’s ever heard an octopus sing, so I was able to provide that for everyone. We had an awesome time doing it together, putting on this mask and this outfit that I had to wear. I felt like I really was the Octopus.

And as Howard mentioned in the video up top, the whole thing was mostly to surprise his mom, whose favorite show is “The Masked Singer.” So that’s really nice, and a solid parting gift to her right before Dwight gets really busy when the Lakers head to Las Vegas this weekend for a players-only minicamp. Something tells me the video of this going around in the group chat will help the team jump start the chemistry-building process.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.