The Grammy Awards have been postponed indefinitely due to coronavirus-related concerns, a joint statement from the Recording Academy and CBS confirmed.
The 2022 show was scheduled for to take place on Jan. 31 before a full audience at its traditional venue, the Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as the Staples Center) in downtown Los Angeles, but the recent surge in Covid-19 has necessitated the awards ceremony to be postponed or cancelled.
A joint statement from the Recording Academy and its television partner, CBS, issued on Wednesday 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.”
Grammy Week events, such as the MusiCares Person of the Year concert, honoring Joni Mitchell, and the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala, feting Sony Music chief Rob Stringer, are likely to move to the week before the new date as well, along with other events around the show.
“The Daily Show”‘s Trevor Noah is still scheduled to return as Grammy host this year.
The Grammys traditionally require a 10-day-plus lockout of the venue in which they are held, and according to the Crypto.com Arena’s schedule, another such opening will not be available until June or even later. Last year’s show — which ironically was also scheduled for Jan. 31 — was moved up six weeks to March 14, after a holiday-season virus spike in Southern California.
Sources tell Variety that the Academy and CBS are hoping for a full show with a live audience; the Grammys generate millions of dollars in revenue, and obviously drew in just a fraction of a normal year’s amount in 2021.
