Organizers of the Grammy Awards, scheduled for later this month, have postponed the event for the second year in a row, citing the current Covid-19 surge.
“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,” CBS and the Recording Academy announced in a joint statement. “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.”
The show was scheduled to take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles with “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah as host once again.
“Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31 simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating Music’s Biggest Night® on a future date, which will be announced soon,” the companies added.
Last year’s Grammy Awards were postponed from January to March, also due to the pandemic and a surge in Covid-19 cases. The show ultimately took place, largely outside, at the Los Angeles Convention Center with a smaller in-person audience.
Nominations for the awards were announced on November 23 and were chosen from projects released between September 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021. Jon Batiste led the pack with 11 total nominations, with Justin Bieber and R&B artist H.E.R tying in second with eight nominations. Rapper Jay-Z became the most nominated artist in the show’s history, with 83 nods, after getting three nominations.
