Kelly Clarkson is stepping into the shoes of her former American Idol colleague Simon Cowell as she takes on the role Cowell has America’s Got Talent while the 60-year-old recovers from back surgery.
E! Online reports that Clarkson made the announcement via a statement on her Twitter account, where she said that Cowell would not be able to make the Tuesday and Wednesday live shows for America’s Got Talent. However, she said that a “wiser, cooler, and hotter” replacement would take over -- herself.
The new role will have Clarkson temporarily sitting at the judges' table with Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, and Sofia Vergara. The episodes Clarkson will take part in will be the inaugural live shows for the current season of America’s Got Talent.
Cowell, of course, is out of commission because of an accident on an electric bike that was bad enough for him to require back surgery. The five-hour back surgery required Cowell to have a metal rod inserted into his back.
Cowell had started riding around on electric bikes as part of his efforts to become healthier. Aside from going on bike rides, Cowell had earlier revealed that he had also changed his diet to that of light beer, vegetables, and white meat.
TVLine reports that Cowell has assured his fans that he is doing well after the surgery. The host and producer even tweeted that he should have read the manual for the electric trail bike he had just bought before riding it for the first time. Cowell also thanked his supporters who have been sending him well-wishes.
While Cowell may be on the mend, TVLine notes that the injury is the latest setback America’s Got Talent has encountered during this pandemic. Because of the global coronavirus pandemic, the production had to shut down for several months to avoid spreading the disease. The show began shooting again in June but had switched to an open-air venue and has the judges socially-distanced from each other.
Of course, the past few months have seen a number of celebrities be hospitalized because of the still ongoing global coronavirus pandemic. One of the most recent ones to be hospitalized and recover from the coronavirus is Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, who posted a video on Instagram showing him donating plasma to help out with research on finding a coronavirus vaccine.
Another prominent celebrity to catch the coronavirus is Amitabh Bachchan, along with his son Abhishek Bachchan and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The elder Bachchan and his daughter-in-law have been discharged from the hospital, while Abhishek remains quarantined.
Other celebrities that have tested positive for the coronavirus like Cranston and Bachchan include actors Anna Camp, Idris Elba, Tom Hanks, Kristofer Hivju, Rita Wilson, Olga Kurylenko, and Ali Wentworth. Television host Andy Cohen, news anchors George Stephanopoulos and Chris Cuomo, singer Marianne Gaithfull, and reality star Todd Chrisley have also tested positive.