Lizzo to Replace Yeah Yeah Yeahs as Final ‘Saturday Night Live’ Musical Guest of 2022

NBC announced Saturday (Dec. 10) that Lizzo will step in for previously announced performers Yeah Yeah Yeahs on next weekend’s Saturday Night Live as the final musical guest of 2022. When she joins host Austin Butler on the Dec. 17 episode, it will mark the third time the pop-rap star has performed on the show.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced on their socials that they had to cancel because guitarist Nick Zinner is still recovering after contracting pneumonia last month. In addition to SNL, the band also pulled out of KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas festival in Los Angeles on Saturday.

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“As many of our fans know Nick has had pneumonia over the past month and it’s been an up and down recovery process,” the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ statement reads. “The band’s top priority is supporting Nick through a full recovery, as a result we had to pull out from our engagements of KROQ’s Acoustic Christmas and Saturday Night Live.

“YYYs have enjoyed the incredible highs of being supported on KROQ and the huge honor of being chosen to close out SNL’s 2022, we are deeply thankful and expectedly heartbroken we cannot rise to these occasions,” the statement continues. “It’s been a tough week, and it’s been a tough year on the health front for us alongside so many artists who are committed to connecting with audiences amidst a pandemic. We send our love to our fans and supporters, thank you for your understanding and well wishes, it means the world to us. Wishing you a healthy and happy rest of 2022, we’re looking forward to a strong return in 2023. Much love, Karen, Nick, and Brian.”

Find the Twitter announcements below.

Katie Atkinson

Billboard