Joe and Jill Biden to appear with Ryan Seacrest on ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’

Jennifer Lopez is headlining the New Year spectacle

President-elect Joe Biden and future first lady Jill Biden are set to appear on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with host Ryan Seacrest to usher in 2021.

Mr Seacrest will interview the Bidens as part of the famed annual televised celebration, a staple of US broadcasting for 49 years.

Dick Clark Productions announced that the couple will discuss “hope, united and best wishes for the year ahead”.

“In a year marked with many challenges, we are honored that President-elect Joe Biden and Dr Biden will join America’s most-watched tradition – Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve – to share an inspiring message as we come together to close out 2020 and look ahead with hope to 2021,” said the company’s president Amy Thurlow and Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich in a joint statement.

Coronavirus restrictions mean that the broadcast will be closed to the public, but will nevertheless feature performances, both recorded and live, from New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans.

Headlining the show will be Jennifer Lopez, who will perform just before the iconic Times Square ball drop live in New York City.

The broadcast begins at 8pm ET and runs until 2am on ABC.

Other performers include: Cyndi Lauper, Megan Thee Stallion, Machine Gun Kelly, Brandy, Miley Cyrus, Nelly, Doja Cat, and Saweetie.

Mr Seacrest is hosting for the 16th year and will be joined by co-hosts Lucy Hale, Billy Porter, Ciara, and Big Freedia.

The Covid-19 pandemic means that there will be a very different celebration in New York’s Times Square on Thursday night.

There will be no crowds thronging the streets and avenues. The area will be closed to the public with only production crew and a select crowd of frontline and essential workers and their families permitted.

The invite-only audience will be arranged into eight foot by eight foot pens socially distanced in the streets and plaza near the main stage.

Organised by the Times Square Alliance, the “Heroes of 2020” event will celebrate those that have kept the city and the country running throughout the pandemic.

Fittingly for 2020, one of the acts scheduled to perform is Gloria Gaynor, who will sing her anthem I Will Survive.