Kanye West Replaced Ariana Grande as Musical Guest on 'SNL' Premiere

Ariana Grande was originally going to be the musical guest on tomorrow night’s season 44 premiere of Saturday Night Live.

After the 25-year-old “God Is A Woman” singer reportedly dropped out for “emotional reasons,” Kanye West then agreed to replace her.

It’s understandable, as it’s been an extremely difficult year for Ariana, with the sudden and tragic death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller in early September at age 26, as well as the terrorist attack at her concert in Manchester, England, in May 2017.

SNL producer Lorne Michaels confirmed the news on James Andrew Miller‘s Origins podcast this week.

“We had Ariana drop out for emotional reasons two days ago,” Lorne said, revealing that Kanye then “stepped up” to take her place. “He’ll be there. The reach of the show, and the number of people that will step forward, is just somehow now, I think, probably at its peak.”

Adam Driver is hosting the show, and Ariana‘s fiance Pete Davidson is still set to appear, E! News reports.

We’re sending lots of love to Ariana as she takes time to heal.