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MOBOs founder Kanya King has said that plans are in place for the ceremony to return in 2020, despite coronavirus forcing the widespread cancellation of music events.
The awards ceremony is set to make its anticipated return to London’s SSE Wembley Arena in November after organisers staged a three-year break to revamp the event.
The threat of coronavirus could derail plans for the show, but King says alternative strategies are already being devised.
She told NME: “We’re in talks with everyone and we’re looking at the guidelines at the moment. But we’re wanting to ensure the safety of it, so we need to look at what’s going to happen in each stage. We’ve come up with a plan b.”
The landmark ceremony, which celebrates music of black origin from across the globe, launched in 1996 and has previously seen appearances from the likes of Jay-Z, Beyonce and Stormzy.
Despite the threat of coronavirus, King says the pandemic has forced the MOBOs team to come up with “innovative” plans for its future.
“Sometimes adversity can force you to be far more creative, so we’re coming up with an innovative way of hosting the MOBOs and we’ll be announcing that in the not too distant future,” she said.
King was speaking to NME after penning a powerful open letter calling on Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to tackle racism in the music industry, describing it as “the worst pandemic”.
She has also called for on the music industry to implement effective and lasting change in the wake of Blackout Tuesday. She told NME: “We want to ensure that there are sustainable solutions so that we are able to unify our voices to maximum impact and implement the changes that have come out of the many reports into racism”.
The last MOBOs in 2017 saw victories for Stormzy, J Hus and Dave.
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