The pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the entertainment sphere.
And the 2020 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony is the latest show affected.
Full story below…
Whitney Houston and Notorious B.I.G were just a few of the top tier names set to be formally inducted into the coveted Hall during the 35th annual ceremony.
However, the global health crisis saw an announcement made postponing the May 2nd show to November.
Now, organizers have revealed that it’s been axed altogether due to the uncertainty that continues to swirl around the industry’s return to normality.
In its place, a TV special honoring the inductees will air on November 7th on both HBO and HBO Max instead.
Beyond Houston and Biggie, others set to be saluted include Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, T-Rex, Jon Landau and mega-manager Irving Azoff.
Speaking in a statement, John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation said:
“To protect the health and safety of our inductees, their families, crews and our attendees, we’ve made the decision that the scheduled live event is not possible.
Together with HBO and executive producer Joel Gallen, we will still create an exciting program honoring our 2020 inductees, by telling the stories of their incredible contributions to music and impact on a generation of artists that followed them.”
With the date for the special coming 10 months after inductees were announced (and several months after the ceremony was meant to take place), it’s had a knock-on effect on the 36th annual celebration. That will now take place in November 2021.
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While the news is all sorts of grating, we remain elated that Whitney and Biggie will be inducted nonetheless.