Fox cancels its New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast show after the Omicron cases spike in New York City and causes trouble to produce the show safely.
Before the sudden surge in the new variant’s cases, the show was all set to air its annual program hosted by Joel McHale and Ken Jeong.
On Tuesday, the American media decided to cancel the show “While we are confident in the health and safety protocols for Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022, the recent velocity of the spread of Omicron cases has made it impossible to produce a live special in Times Square that meets our standards,” it said in a statement.
“We will not be moving forward with Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022 in New York. The health and safety of our casts and crews has always been, and will continue to be, of the utmost importance. Replacement programming for New Year’s Eve on Fox will be announced in the coming days.”
The most awaited TV program of the was to feature special, performances by Maroon 5, Trace Adkins, Imagine Dragons, Pink, and Billy Idol.
The decision for show cancellation came after Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City expressed uncertainty regarding iconic Time’s Square festivities to carry on as planned. He has yet to decide whether to make any changes in the year’s end festivities before Christmas, “We’re going to make a decision before Christmas,” it said in a briefing.
“We’re certainly looking at the new challenges we’re facing, but this is an all-vaccinated event and it is outdoors, and those are two very, very important, favorable factors. We’re also considering there’s other ways we can approach it even with current rules that could help to make it even stronger, so there’s a discussion going on. We will have a final decision on what we can do ahead of Christmas, for sure.”
Several other big cities, including Seattle and Los Angeles, have already called off their major events for the year-end.
