Hugh Jackman tests positive for COVID-19 after Tony Awards performance

Actor Hugh Jackman announced that he tested positive for COVID-19, just a day after performing at the 2022 Tony Awards ceremony on Sunday. 

“I wanted you guys to hear it from me first that unfortunately this morning I have frustratingly been tested positive for COVID again,” Jackman said in a video uploaded on Twitter. 

“My incredible stand-by, Max Clayton, is gonna go on for me,” he added.

Jackman, who sat without a mask in the front row at the Tonys on Sunday, also delivered a ‘Seventy-Six Trombones’ performance at the award show with the cast of Broadway production ‘The Music Man’. He was nominated for the best actor in a musical category, but lost to Myles Frost for the latter’s performance in ‘MJ’.

According to a report by Variety, an email, which was sent to all the guests of the Tony Awards before the event, stated that all the attendees were required to show vaccination certificates and a negative PCR COVID test report.

However, masks were optional for those who sat in the orchestra, and mandatory for those in the common rooms, restrooms, and the Radio City Music Hall lobby.

On Monday, Jackman revealed that the Broadway performances will continue to take place and his role will be filled in by Max Clayton. 

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“My incredible standby, Max Clayton, is gonna go on for me. This is just another reminder to me, I’ll say it a million times over, that the real heroes of Broadways are our standbys, understudies and swings. And never has that been more obvious than it has been in the past year. They give meaning to the phrase ‘The show must go on,’ and it will go on,” he said. 

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This isn’t the first time that the 53-year-old ‘Logan’ actor has contracted the virus. In December last year, Jackman tested positive during the preview performance sessions of ‘The Music Man’, which was two months before the show officially opened for audiences.