The recent surge of Covid-19 cases in America due to the Omicron variant has led to a string of cancellations and adjustments. First, Saturday Night Live canceled Charli XCX’s scheduled appearance, and then The Strokes canceled their New Year’s Eve performance, followed quickly by The Flaming Lips postponing their shows. Although those three were just precautions, another New Year’s Eve cancelation from rap legend LL Cool J is due to the artist testing positive for the virus.
Deadline reported that LL Cool J will no longer perform at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest and shared a statement from the rapper, who had an optimistic outlook, despite his current status. “I know it’s disappointing to the millions of fans but my test came back positive for COVID, which means I’ll no longer be able to perform as scheduled at NYRE,” he said in a statement. “We were ready and I was really looking forward to ringing in 2022 in my hometown in a special way, but for now I wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year. The best is yet to come!”
LL was schedule for a pre-midnight set in Times Square, but that will have to wait until another year.