{"id":187771,"date":"2026-04-06T23:23:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187771\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T23:23:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:23:28","slug":"queen-latifah-to-host-2026-american-music-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187771\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Latifah to Host 2026 American Music Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tQueen Latifah<\/a> is set to host the 2026 American Music Awards<\/a>, it was announced Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Grammy- and Emmy-winning musician, actress and producer will emcee the 52nd edition of the awards<\/a> show, taking place Memorial Day<\/a> from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI am so excited to return to the American Music<\/a> Awards stage to host this year,\u201d Latifah, who previously served as co-host of the awards show in 1995 and has performed on the show multiple times, said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible year for music and there is no better place to celebrate than in Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter launching her career in hip-hop, landing seven Grammy nominations and winning best rap solo performance in 1994, Latifah has in more recent years focused more on acting and producing, most recently headlining CBS\u2019 The Equalizer and memorably starring in Living Single from 1993-1998. Her other credits include the films Set It Off, Living Out Loud, Bringing Down the House, The Secret Life of Bees, Hairspray, The Last Holiday, Beauty Shop, Girls Trip and Hustle as well as her Oscar-nominated turn in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019s the first hip-hop artist with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2023 and National Medal of the Arts in 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to welcome Queen Latifah back as host of the American Music Awards,\u201d Jay Penske, CEO of Dick Clark Productions and chairman\/CEO of Penske Media Corporation, added in a statement. \u201cA true powerhouse and trailblazer, she brings a dynamic presence and deep connection to both fans and fellow artists, making her the perfect choice to lead a night celebrating the biggest names and most defining moments in music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLatifah succeeds Jennifer Lopez, who hosted last year\u2019s Memorial Day-set AMAs, which was held at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\n\tNominations for the 2026 AMAs, honoring \u201cthe most influential artists and songs of today\u201d are based on fan interactions as reflected on the Billboard charts, including streaming, album and song sales, radio airplay and tour grosses. Nominees will be announced on April 14 ahead of winners being determined by fan votes in a total of 50 categories.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 52nd annual American Music Awards are set to air live coast-to-coast at 8 p.m. ET\/ 5 p.m. PT on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe American Music Awards was created by Dick Clark Productions. DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge that also owns The Hollywood Reporter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queen Latifah is set to host the 2026 American Music Awards, it was announced Monday. The Grammy- and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[75326,2470,2538,9,24,63,34055,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-187771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-american-music-awards","9":"tag-awards","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-queen-latifah","15":"tag-queens","16":"tag-queens-headlines","17":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}