LL Cool J.Photo: Andrew Toth/FilmMagic
LL Cool Jhas canceled his New Year’s Eve performance after testing positive forCOVID-19.
The entertainer, 53, was scheduled to perform duringDick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrestairing Friday on ABC.
“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,” the musician, whose real name is James Todd Smith, said in a statement to PEOPLE.
“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!” he added.
TheNCIS: Los Angelesstar was slated to take the stage for a pre-midnight set in Times Square on Friday night, as part of a pared-down event due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Last week, New York City mayor Bill de Blasioannouncedplans to scale back the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration due tothe city’s surgein COVID cases. Only one quarter of the usual attendees — about 15,000 people — will be allowed.
R&B singerChlöehas also canceled her appearance on ABC’s Times Square event, which is still scheduled to include performances from Journey and Karol G on stage in New York City.
Joining from Los Angeles will beAvril LavigneandTravis Barker, Big Boi and Sleepy Brown,French Montana,Macklemore, OneRepublic and more.Daddy Yankeeis scheduled to perform from Puerto Rico, whileBilly Porterwill appear from New Orleans.
RELATED VIDEO:Queen ElizabethMakes a Decision on Royal Family Christmas Plans amid COVID Surge
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free weekly newsletterto get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
The cancellations come asmany experts recommend nixinglarge-scale New Year’s Eve gatherings amid the spikingomicron variant surgein COVID-19 cases.
The United States passed a grim milestone this week, nearly two years into the coronavirus pandemic, asdatafrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed the country recording a single-day record-breaking high of over 441,000 new cases on Dec. 27.
The reported totals surpassed the Jan. 8 record of over 298,000 new COVD-19 cases logged in a single day.
The seven-day average of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. totals just over 240,000, per data from the CDC. The staggering number of cases brings thetotal amount recordedin the U.S. since January 2020 to nearly 53 million, with the total death toll rising to 816,239.
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
