Grammy Awards postponed due to spike in Omicron cases

The year 2022 seems to be the start of another upheaval for awards ceremony due to rising cases of COVID-19 variant Omicron. The Grammy Awards have now been postponed, weeks before the scheduled ceremony in Los Angeles, owing to what the organisers called 'too many risks'. 

The award function was earlier planned to be held on January 31 at Crypto.com Arena with a live audience and performances but looks like it has now been postponed indefinitely. The new date of the show is not yet announced. According to AP, The Recording Academy said it decided to postpone the ceremony “after careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health and safety experts, the artist community and our many partners. They had issued a statement saying, "Given the uncertainty surrounding the omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks."

Last year too, Grammys was postponed due to the outbreak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The show that was planned in January was later held in March with mostly nominees and their guests as the audience. The event was held at the arena then known as Staples Center. Beyonce and Taylor Swift won big at the 63rd Grammy Awards. The live performances that are the highlights of the award show were organised separately with no significant crowds. Many of them were also pre-taped. “We look forward to celebrating Music’s Biggest Night on a future date, which will be announced soon,” the academy statement said.

The Recording Academy however has not mentioned anything on the possibility for the change in the venue for this year. The announcement came at the same time when the Sundance Film Festival that was set to begin on January 20 was cancelled and shifted to an online event. 

Meanwhile, Jon Batiste is the leading nominee this year. He has won 11 nominations in genres including R&B, jazz, American roots music, classical and music video. Other prominent nominees include Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R. 

The Screen Actors Guild Awards have been planned for February and the Academy Awards for March but there is no update about the two cancelling or rescheduling the shows.