Entertainment
How America’s Got Talent is working around the coronavirus lockdown
The talent show must go on — even if it means judging singers, dancers, jugglers, and comics via Zoom. When season 15 of America’s Got Talent returns in May, judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, and Sofia Vergara, along with host Terry Crews, will accept submissions from performers who are sheltered at home due…
The talent show must go on — even if it means judging singers, dancers, jugglers, and comics via Zoom.
When season 15 of America’s Got Talent returns in May, judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, and Sofia Vergara, along with host Terry Crews, will accept submissions from performers who are sheltered at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Though the NBC show was able to film audition rounds earlier this spring at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, it will still consider acts from those stuck in lockdown.
In this exclusive sneak peek from the show’s online casting process, Klum shows off her quarantine manicure and Cowell sports a set of colorful pajamas as they prepare to judge some online submissions. Since desperate times call for desperate measures, everyone has been forced to create their own device to reject an act. Naturally, Cowell has come up with the most obnoxious one!
“We’re all in new territory,” says Cowell. “We’ve never done this before. We’re at home doing this, so I love trying things for the first time.”
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Submissions are ongoing at AGTAuditions.com. Some online acts could make it to the judge-cut round.
Vergara will be making her debut as an AGT judge, while Klum is returning after sitting out season 14. (Klum has, however, served as a judge on both seasons of the spin-off America’s Got Talent: The Champions so far.) Cowell and Mandel are also returning, as is Crews.
The new season of America’s Got Talent premieres May 26 on NBC. Watch the sneak peek above.
For the latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19), including how to protect yourself and what to do if you think you are sick, please visit coronavirus.gov.
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