Defying an assumption we would have made with some confidence at pretty much any point between, like, 1998 and today, the American entertainment industry has apparently pushed Snoop Dogg’s ability to self-promotionally appear in things to its limit. Admittedly, it took the confluence of the planet’s biggest ice-based sporting event and its largest party holiday to do it, as Mr. Dogg reported today that he will be canceling his planned live NBC New Year’s special, Snoop Dogg’s New Year’s Eve, in favor of focusing more of his energies on the Winter Olympics.
This is per Deadline, reporting on a statement from the rapper/professional appearer-in-things, who said that “Sometimes the calendar gets in the way of the celebration, which is why my NBC family and I decided this winter was time for us all to focus on the Olympics. But don’t worry, we’ll party together bigger and better later in 2026. Ya dig.”
Ya dig indeed, as NBC has clearly decided that getting Snoop’s energy on hand for the Winter Games—after he was a breakout hit at the network’s very expensive Paris coverage back in 2024—will be key to making next year’s Winter Olympics pop. (The Games are scheduled to take up most of next February, and are set for Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy; apparently, when Snoop Dogg puts on a New Year’s Eve party, he does so in such a way that it makes him unavailable for luge commentary duties for at least a month.)
The question now is what NBC will put on in the event’s place, or whether it’ll worry about it at all. (There’s not enough time to organize a whole new New Year’s event, apparently, although we’ve done some pretty bold things in less time with a couple of lovingly burnt mix CDs, and a cocktail best described as “Anything sold on the bottom shelf of the liquor store that happens to be blue.”) The network has been inconsistent about handling the holiday, in recent years to the point that it just ran a football game last year, since New Year’s fell on Sunday anyway; in previous years, it tapped Miley Cyrus to handle its competition for ABC’s regular Ryan Seacrest-focused offerings.
