The 2022 Grammy Awards ceremony has officially been postponed indefinitely due to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases, which has largely been driven by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
This year’s event was set to be held on Jan. 31 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles with host Trevor Noah of The Daily Show fame, but now the Recording Academy and television partner CBS have released a joint statement explaining that the annual ceremony had been postponed over concerns for the health and safety of everyone involved.
The statement reads, “After careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health and safety experts, the artist community and our many partners, the Recording Academy and CBS have postponed the 64th annual Grammy Awards show. The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority. Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating Music’s Biggest Night on a future date, which will be announced soon.”
Yesterday (Jan. 4), it was reported that the United States shattered the world record for reported daily coronavirus cases in a single country with over one million positive results tabulated on Monday (Jan. 3), a substantial increase from the previous record set four days earlier (also by the U.S.) with a tally of 590,000 new cases.
While a new date has yet to be released, what has been confirmed is that Noah will remain the host as the nominees await the results.
Head here to see every 2022 rock and metal Grammy nominee.