‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve': ABC Updates Performer Lineup as Pandemic Rages On
ABC representatives on Friday provided another update on performers for tonight’s live “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2022,” even as COVID concerns continue to cast doubt on the safety of live events in New York’s Times Square and elsewhere around the country. :
According to the network, the following performers are set for the four locations:
- Times Square: Journey, Ashanti & Ja Rule
- Los Angeles: AJR and Daisy the Great, Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker, Big Boi and Sleepy Brown, D-Nice, Don Omar and Nio Garcia, French Montana, Macklemore with Ryan Lewis and Windser, Mae Muller, Måneskin, Masked Wolf, One Republic, Polo G and Walker Hayes
- Puerto Rico: Daddy Yankee
- New Orleans: Billy Porter
The broadcast will still take place as planned on 12/31 at 8PM ET on ABC.
The update follows the news earlier this week that rap legend LL Cool J and Chloe had pulled out of his scheduled performance Friday during after LL Cool J tested positive for COVID-19.
“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. 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!” Cool J said in a statement.
Outgoing New York City major De Blasio has already scaled back Times Square celebrations from the “full-strength” celebration he originally approved. Crowds will be limited to 15,000, down from 60,000 pre-pandemic, and everyone who enters must wear a mask.
However, the limitations did not keep social media commenters from blasting the plan to go ahead with the evening’s show in the face of pandemic surges, largely due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. And many are comparing Time Square’s crystal New Year’s Eve ball to the too-familiar image of a spiky COVID virus. A few samples from Twitter:
And this one word note from March for Science: