SNL Is Returning This Weekend with a Remotely Produced Episode Due to Coronavirus

SNL, which is currently in its 45th outing, is 16 episodes into its 21-episode season. It remains unclear whether the sketch series will continue to produce remote content for those final episodes.

Currently, the show counts Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson and Melissa Villaseñor as full-time cast members. Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim and Bowen Yang are featured players.

As of Thursday afternoon, at least 449,260 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the United States, with 16,108 deaths, according to The New York Times.

New York City, where SNL tapes, has been hit particularly hard. There are at least 87,028 cases and 5,150 deaths, more than any other city in the world.

Coronavirus has also hit the SNL cast personally. On Monday, Weekend Update anchor Che announced his grandmother had died after contracting the virus.

“I don’t know if I’ll lose someone else to this virus. I don’t even know if I’ll be lost to this virus,” Che wrote on Instagram. “I’m just frustrated, cause there’s so much we still don’t know about it.”

Saturday Night Live airs Saturday (at 11:30 p.m. ET) on NBC.

As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments. To help provide doctors and nurses on the front lines with life-saving medical resources, donate to Direct Relief here.

Source: Read Full Article