Trevor Noah showed the six feet apart at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
“It’s not a Zoom background; that’s real,” the first host said outside the Los Angeles Staples Center and showed off COVID’s new socially remote and secure setup. “That’s real. My uncle won’t walk behind me naked, even though I told him I have an important meeting.”
The host of “The Daily Show,” 37, also showed off the new setup for the awards ceremony in its opening monologue, with Billie Eilish, Black Pumas and Haim all separated by six feet away.
But he could not resist breaking a political joke.
“Tonight will be the biggest outdoor event this year, in addition to the Capitol storm,” he joked.
He also got involved with the royal family amid the Meghan Markle scandal.
“There’s more tension in this store than in a family reunion at Buckingham Palace,” he joked.
But before the broadcast, Noah, who maintains a “very serious relationship” with Minka Kelly, said he hoped the show “could be a moment of hope” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Hopefully this can be a respite for a moment and then we’ll say,‘ Oh yeah, that was the beginning of when we started living our lives again, ’” he told Billboard.
Still, the South African native said he planned to follow the music, not politics, for the show, to keep it light.
“An awards ceremony is very different from ‘The Daily Show,'” he told Billboard. “We talk to a wider audience, it’s not politics. I’m not there to do politics, I’m to make music.”
Without politics, the hosting concert itself caused quite a stir this year. Tiffany Haddish was reportedly offered an unpaid accommodation concert for the pre-broadcast premiere ceremony, in which she would have to pay for her hair, makeup and wardrobe.
“It’s like a guy asked you for a date but told you you have to pay for it,” he told Variety, adding that he declined and called it “disrespectful.”
The Recording Academy said hosts, presenters and performers usually show up for free, including this year, as the Academy is a non-profit organization. Acting Chief Harvey Mason Jr. he posted a one-minute apology on Instagram, saying he was “frustrated by that decision.”
“It was a lapse of judgment, it was in bad taste and it was disrespectful to the creative community – I’m part of the creative community and I know what it feels like, and it’s not right,” he said. “I expressed my regret and displeasure at her for how she fell and how she was managed. And I will say, Tiffany, we are sorry and thank you for allowing me to talk about it.”