Primetime Puff.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/VF22/WireImage for Vanity Fair
The 2022 Billboard Music Awards will have more problematic performers than a Dave Chappelle show. And the show’s host, Diddy, couldn’t be happier about it. On Thursday, Diddy posted on Instagram that he personally requested Travis Scott, whose set at his November 2021 festival Astroworld left ten people dead by crowd crush and injured scores. That’s in addition to Morgan Wallen, who was caught on video saying the N-word in February 2021. “One of the things I’m doing directly is un-canceling the canceled,” he told Billboard. Diddy (aka Sean Combs, aka Love, aka “Primetime Puff,” as he called himself in the interview) went on about “un-canceling” like he was Jesus cleansing the lepers. “To have Morgan and Travis be able to come back and touch the stage again with the mind-set of getting a second chance at life,” he said. “Everybody in the room is getting a second chance at life, you know, because we’re back inside with no masks on.” We were there canceled by the pandemic, when you think about it, so feel a bit of empathy. (Just no one tell this man about the Omicron subvariants.) The night’s more acceptable performers include Megan Thee Stallion, Silk Sonic, Ed Sheeran, Florence + the Machine, and Mary J. Blige, who is being recognized with the Icon Award. Watch Diddy learn about cancellation firsthand when he hosts the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday on NBC.