Juno host sad show cancelled but agrees risk was too great
Alessia Cara’s weekend in Saskatoon was over virtually the moment it began.
Cara, who was scheduled to host the 2020 Juno Awards on Sunday, said she landed in the Bridge City Wednesday night “and immediately got the news that we couldn’t move forward with the show” due to concerns over COVID-19. On Thursday, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced the cancellation of the Junos on the same morning the province announced its first presumed case of COVID-19
In addition to her hosting duties, Cara — a 23-year-old from Brampton, Ont. — was nominated in six categories: Juno fan choice, single, album, pop album, artist and songwriter.
“I’m so sad (as is everyone putting together the show) but it wouldn’t be safe or smart to put thousands of people in an arena right now,” she said in an Instagram post.
“Everyone’s health and safety comes first and it’s just too risky at the moment.”
Organizers and stakeholders said the decision to cancel the Junos and all Juno-related events during the weekend came “with an incredibly heavy heart” and that they are “devastated to cancel this national celebration of music.”
Vancouver indie rock outfit Said The Whale tweeted Thursday that they had pre-emptively cancelled their plans to attend because of the pandemic.
Toronto-based music publicist Eric Alper said he’d also scrapped plans to attend — and told the 16 artists he works with not to go either.
“I’m pretty devastated,” Alper said in an interview.
“I wish that CARAS, the Juno committee, might have been able to do this a couple of days ago, before people started to travel and make real plans for it. But that’s the way things go when not only in this country but around the world — we’re all learning about what could potentially be the new normal over the next couple of months.”
This was the second time Saskatoon was picked to host the bash, after the Junos in 2007 when Nelly Furtado served as host.
According to a statement from organizers, CARAS will “explore options” to honour this year’s winners and special award recipients, including Canadian Hall of Fame inductee Jann Arden.
Organizers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“I’m hoping we can find some way to make it up to everyone, but none of us have much information on what’s happening moving forward,” Cara said in her post, which
It wouldn’t be safe or smart to put thousands of people in an arena right now. Everyone’s health and safety comes first.
ended with a broken heart emoji.
Alpert said he would love some sort of a “closed-circuit” Junos take place online instead.
He said the financial toll from the cancellation for himself and his artists is “easily in the thousands.”
“We’re talking about flights that didn’t have cancellation insurance, hotels that may or may not be able to cancel without penalty, loss of revenue when it comes to blocking off the entire weekend as opposed to perhaps performing in other places — not just in Canada but in the U.S. or in the U.K.,” Alper continued.
“And also just the dozens and hundreds of hours of working ability that we were all working toward this weekend to put on as great of an event as possible.
“And that stuff just can’t be replaced, but it’s the only decision that CARAS and the Juno Awards could have made.”