Saturday Night Live experienced a bit of a booking shuffle when Ariana Grande dropped out as the musical guest for the Season 44 premiere of Saturday Night Live, as per show creator Lorne Michaels.
"We had Ariana drop out for emotional reasons two days ago," Michaels recently revealed on the "Origins With James Andrew Miller" podcast. "That's our premiere, and then Kanye [West] stepped up, and he’ll be there. So, the reach of the show and the number of people who will step forward is now somehow now, I think, probably at its peak." Take a listen to the talk of Grande and West at the 51:30 mark below.
Michaels' revelation is likely a reference to the death of Grande's ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, who passed away from an apparent overdose on September 7th. He was 26-years-old. Grande's booking would have arrived at a fitting time, considering she released Sweetener in mid-August and is currently engaged to SNL cast member Pete Davidson. Still, it seems like the singer is still very much mourning the loss of Miller. On Thursday (September 27), she opened up to her fans on Twitter, revealing her current heartbreaking emotional state. "Can i pls have one okay day. just one. pls," she first tweeted, before adding, "i’m so f**king tired pls" and "jus wake me up when i'm supposed to sing or whatever. peace." She also responded "j f**king k" to a previous tweet that she wrote last week that read, "everything will be okay."
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