The 2021 Grammy Awards announced on Tuesday its decision to move the ceremony to March due to the coronavirus pandemic conditions.
The new date, March 14, now conflicts with the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Awards, which pays homage to the best performances in film and television.
SAG-AFTRA expressed its disappointment at the Recording Academy’s decision in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday.
“We are extremely disappointed to learn of the conflicting date, March 14, announced today for this year’s Grammy Awards broadcast,” said SAG-AFTRA. “We announced the same date for the SAG Awards last July with the intention of giving as much consideration as possible to programming for other award shows. We expect the same consideration from sister organizations across the industry.”
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“We are in contact with the Recording Academy and will continue to work with our sister organizations to find ways to make this year’s awards season as successful as possible,” the statement concluded.
On Tuesday, Harvey Mason Jr., president and interim president and CEO of the Recording Academy, told Fox News in a statement:
“After attentive talks with health experts, our host and artists scheduled to appear, we are rescheduling ‘The 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards®’ to be broadcast on Sunday, March 14, 2021.”
The message was signed by Jack Sussman, executive vice president of specials, music, live events and alternative programming at CBS, and Ben Winston, executive producer of the Grammy Awards at Fulwell 73 Productions.
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The statement continued: “The deterioration of COVID’s situation in Los Angeles, with hospital services overloaded, ICUs reaching their maximum capacity and the new guidelines from state and local governments led us to conclude that postponing our show was the right thing to do . Nothing is more important than the health and safety of those in our music community and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce the show. “
Billie Eilish celebrating her six Grammy wins in 2020.
(Steve Granitz / WireImage)
The Grammy was scheduled to take place on January 31 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County, the epicenter of the California crisis, exceeded 10,000 deaths from COVID-19 and recorded 40% of deaths in the state. California was recently the third state to achieve 25,000 coronavirus-related deaths.
An average of six people die every hour from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, which has a quarter of the state’s 40 million residents. County health officials fear increases in meetings over Christmas and New Year.
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“The Daily Show” host and comedian Trevor Noah is expected to receive the 2021 Grammy Awards, in which Beyoncé is the main candidate, with nine nominations.
A Recording Academy representative did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.