The Grammy Awards are being postponed, a rep for the show confirms to Variety. Further details are expected shortly. Sources say the show may be moved to March, although no date was confirmed at the time of this article’s publication.
Sources tell Variety that a combination of health and travel concerns — and not least the spike in coronavirus cases in the show’s planned location of Los Angeles — led the Recording Academy and its network partner CBS to decide to postpone the show, which is scheduled to be hosted by “The Daily Show”‘s Trevor Noah, from its originally planned January 31st date. The move is not entirely unexpected, as Variety has heard several confusing reports in recent days around performances scheduled for the show.
For months, the Grammys have been contending with the countless complications involved in staging a major awards show that ordinarily has an audience of 18,000-plus people — self-billed as “Music’s Biggest Night” — during a pandemic. While interim Grammy chief Harvey Mason, jr. told Variety in September that the initial general plan was to hold the event at its longtime home of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, with either a limited or no audience, late in November he said the show would be held “in and around Downtown Los Angeles,” opening the possibility that performances could be staged from multiple venues in that area. In a brief interview with Billboard published last month, new Grammys executive producer Ben Winston said he was “looking to do something quite exciting with independent venues” either in or around the 2021 show.
“I’m so struck by the independent music venues around the world, and I’m aware of how hard hit that side of the industry has been. I’m looking to do something quite exciting with the independent venues — supporting them and putting a spotlight on them in what has been a really tough year for them.” The venues will receive aid as part of the Save Our Stages Act, which was passed into law along with the stimulus bill last month.
Mason told Variety late in November that the Grammys were looking at other shows for ideas, but “It’s gonna be a show that’s different from the other awards shows that have happened at this point,” he said. “We’re going to determine as we get a little bit closer what we’re going to do with our audience, but we have some really cool and special things that are coming together for our show.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety