Lizzo will serenade Saturday Night Live through its last performance of 2022, with the Grammy-winning performer replacing scheduled musical guests the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for the NBC show’s Dec. 17 episode.
The swap was revealed during the Dec. 10 episode along with a message from the alternative rock band on Instagram, who pointed to an ongoing health issue for their guitarist.
“As many of our fans know, Nick [Zinner] has been sick with pneumonia the past month and it’s been an up and down recovery process,” the musical group wrote. “The band’s top priority is supporting Nick through a full recovery. As a result we had to pull out of from our engagements at KROQ’s Acoustic Christmas and Saturday Night Live.”
The group added that getting to perform on SNL was a “huge honor” and an occasion they are “expectedly heartbroken” over not being able to do. “It’s been a tough week, and its been a tough year on the health front for us alongside so many artists who are committed to connecting with audiences amidst a pandemic,” they added.
After sharing the “surprise” news, in her own statement posted to Twitter, Lizzo wrote that “it’s an honor to fill in for the yeah yeah yeahs who unfortunately could not perform next week.”
Lizzo’s Dec. 17 appearance, with Elvis star Austin Butler serving as host, will mark the second time the singer has been a musical guest on the NBC variety sketch show this year (and third overall after making her debut in 2019). The Emmy-winning host of Watch Out for the Big Grrrls initially pulled double duty as both the host and musical guest in April.
