Roddy Ricch was gearing up to take the stage during Saturday Night Live for the first time, but ultimately had to cancel after being exposed to COVID-19. According to reports, the 23-year-old rapper pulled out of this week’s episode and will be replaced by Bleachers. Roddy confirmed the news via his Instagram Stories, writing:
“Due to recent COVID exposure on my team and to keep everyone safe I won’t be able to perform on SNL this weekend. I’m working with the SNL team to lock in a new date though! LOVE. STAY SAFE.”
Roddy Ricch says he’ll be unable to perform on SNL this weekend due to “recent COVID exposure on my team.”
NBC says that Bleachers will be the new musical guest this episode. pic.twitter.com/rzntH4W2df
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 12, 2022
The Bleachers also took to social media to confirm that they’ll be replacing the “High Fashion” star for Saturday Night Live’s first show of 2022, sharing:
“The hardest attempt to date of taking the sadness out of saturday night bleachers are the first musical guest of 2022 on @nbcsnl”
the hardest attempt to date of taking the sadness out of saturday night 🍅 bleachers are the first musical guest of 2022 on @nbcsnl! pic.twitter.com/Lj94ZajjsA
— bleachers (@bleachersmusic) January 12, 2022
This isn’t the first time the Coronavirus disrupted an SNL show. The show’s final episode of 2021 was nearly canceled due to an in-house outbreak of positive cases. only featured Kenan Thompson and Michael Che from its regular cast as well as special guests Tina Fey and Tom Hanks. The show released a statement to the New York post amid the outbreak, sharing:
“Due to the recent spike in the Omicron variant and out of an abundance of caution, there will be no live audience for tonight’s taping of ‘Saturday Night Live’ and the show will have limited cast and crew. The show continues to follow all government safety guidelines in addition to a rigorous testing protocol.”
No word on if the full cast, crew and live audience is set to return for the show’s first episode of the year.
