Arturo Holmes/FilmMagic; Kevin Winter/FilmMagic
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have dropped out from their upcoming Saturday Night Live musical gig — and it now belongs to Lizzo.
The band revealed on Saturday that it will no longer be performing during the Dec. 17 episode of the NBC comedy show, given that guitarist Nick Zinner has been battling pneumonia for the last month.
“It’s been an up and down recovery process,” the group shared in an Instagram statement. “The band’s top priority is supporting Nick through a full recovery, as a result we had to pull out from our engagements of KROG’s Acoustic Christmas and Saturday Night Live.”
As the band revealed, its three members — Zinner, Karen O and Brian Chase — are “deeply thankful and expectedly heartbroken we can not rise to these occasions” after a “tough week” and a “tough year” health-wise.
“We send our love to our fans and supporters, thank you for your understanding and well wishes, it means the world to us,” the trio wrote. “Wishing you a healthy and happy rest of 2022, we’re looking forward to a strong return in 2023.”
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The Dec. 17 episode of SNL will still feature Austin Butler taking on hosting duties and Lizzo providing musical numbers. SNL revealed the switch shortly before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released its statement about pulling out, and Lizzo called her upcoming appearance on the show an “honor.”
The Grammy winner previously did double duty on the program back in April, two months before the release of her fourth studio album, Special.
During her last SNL stint, in which she said she expected to “break the record for the amount of times ‘bitch’ is said on live TV,” Lizzo shouted out her mother in her opening monologue, mentioned her twerking TedTalk, and addressed rumors about “dating every little white boy in Hollywood.” As she explained, she was “collecting members of One Direction like infinity stones.”
Her sketches included a trivia game show, one about Beanie Babies, and another centered around the Black Eyed Peas. As for her performances, Lizzo played her major hit “About Damn Time,” as well as the title track from her most recent release.
Chris Polk/E! Entertainment/NBC via Getty
Earlier this week, Lizzo won big at the 2022 People’s Choice Awards on Tuesday night.
After receiving the People’s Champion Award, the “Truth Hurts” crooner invited 17 activists on stage with her, and said that being an icon wasn’t about “how long you’ve had your platform,” but rather “what you do with that platform.”
Among those on stage with her were Breonna Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer, Mari Copeny — who has worked to raise awareness of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan — nonprofit founder Shirley Raines and Maggie Mireles Thomas, whose sister Eva Mireles was killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting this year.
“Ever since the beginning of my career I’ve used my platform to amplify marginalized voices. Tonight, I’m sharing this honor,” Lizzo said.
