FOX
FOX had been planning on moving ahead with its 2021-2022 “New Year’s Eve Toast and Roast” special, but it has now canceled the live Times Square event.
The statement put out by FOX reads:
While we are confident in the health and safety protocols for FOX’s “New Year’s Eve Toast and Roast 2022,” the recent velocity of the spread of Omicron cases has made it impossible to produce a live special in Times Square that meets our standards.
We will not be moving forward with FOX’S “New Year’s Eve Toast and Roast 2022” in New York. The health and safety of our casts and crews has always been, and will continue to be, of the utmost importance.
As far as we know, the other networks are still moving ahead with their live New Year’s Eve coverage. There is a full TV schedule breakdown here, which includes ABC’s “Dick Clark’s Rockin Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” NBC’s special with Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen’s annual special on CNN, and CBS’ first foray into live New Year’s Eve coverage since the mid-1990s, with its “Nashville’s Big Bash” hosted live from Nashville by Bobby Bones and Rachel Smith.
The FOX Hosts
While we are confident in the health and safety protocols for FOX’S NEW YEAR’S EVE TOAST & ROAST 2022, the recent velocity of the spread of Omicron cases has made it impossible to produce a live special in Times Square that meets our standards.
Originally, the “Toast and Roast” was going to be co-hosted by comedians and actors Ken Jeong of “The Masked Singer” and “I Can See Your Voice” and Joel McHale of “Crime Scene Kitchen.” Jeong and McHale hosted the “Toast and Roast” last year from Los Angeles with Kelly Osbourne reporting from Times Square.
Prior to that, FOX has aired a variety of New Year’s specials. From 2004 to 2013, they aired a special live from Times Square called “New Year’s Eve Live,” then from 2014 to 2016, FOX broadcast “Pitbull’s New Year’s Revolution” from Miami. Then for three years, the show returned to Times Square and was hosted by comedian Steve Harvey until Jeong and McHale took over in 2020 in a three-and-a-half-hour special that FOX billed as honoring “those that helped to make the world a better place this past year.”
This year, in addition to being tapped for the “Toast and Roast” again, McHale also participated in FOX’s “TMZ’s Merry Elfin’ Christmas: Bye, Bye 2021!”, a special that featured celebrities offering a light-hearted look back at their top stories of 2021. Other guests included Howie Mandell, the WWE’s Becky Lynch, Nene Leakes, Chrishell Stause and other surprise guests.
The FOX Performers
Originally, the performances lineup was supposed to include an appearance by Kelly Osbourne plus performances by Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5, Billy Idol, Pink and Trace Adkins.
The “Toast and Roast” for the 2020-2021 New Year’s Eve celebration featured performances by David Guetta featuring Raye, LeAnn Rimes, Gloria Estefan, Doctor Elvis, John Legend, Green Day, Ava Max, Dionne Warwick, and Gabby Barrett. Special celebrity guests included Carole Baskin, Ice-T and Coco, Jason Biggs, Cheyenne Jackson, Jane Krakowski, Leslie Jordan, Mayim Bialik, Morris Chestnut, Randy Jackson, Tim Allen and Tom Payne.
If you’d like to celebrate New Year’s Eve with some fireworks displays, there are some spectacular ones that went off yesterday at Walt Disney World and earlier on December 31 when it was midnight local time in Sydney, Australia and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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