Nick Cannon has been forced to step down as the host of hit U.S. show The Masked Singer after testing positive for Covid-19.
The rapper-turned-TV personality is currently in quarantine and will reportedly miss the first few episodes of the upcoming new season.
Comedian Niecy Nash will take his place until he recovers and tests negative again.
Season four of the series just wrapped up with LeAnn Rimes as Sun beating out Aloe Blacc and Nick Carter in front of the panel, made up of Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, and Nicole Scherzinger. Season five is filming now and is set to premiere next month.
After a rocky year for Nick, who got caught up in an anti-Semitism row following remarks he made on his Cannon's Class podcast, the 40-year-old looks set for a brighter 2021. As well as resuming his The Masked Singer role, he has a new talk show launching in the autumn.
"It's been a longtime dream of mine to host my own daytime talk show and that I'm able to do this in New York City, bringing daytime television back to the place that has fostered generations of talent, is very special to me," Nick said in a statement. "With this show, we'll be uniting all aspects of entertainment in a unique way in the very place where a lot of what we know today as our culture started."
