2025 SAG Awards: Martin Short’s reason for missing show and not collecting his prize revealed

Martin Short’s reason for skipping this Saturday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards – where he won big – has now been revealed.

The beloved 74-year-old entertainer won best actor in a comedy series for Only Murders In The Building, which stars him with Steve Martin and Selena Gomez.

His award was presented by Joey King and Jack Quaid, who accepted the trophy on his behalf because of his inability to attend.

Now, it is confirmed that he could not go to the ceremony because he caught COVID-19 at the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special last week. 

‘The honor of being in Only Murders In The Building is the most spectacular compliment anyone could be given,’ he said.

‘The honor of being awarded by your peers is even greater. Thank you so so much,’ Short concluded his statement to Entertainment Tonight.

Two days earlier, Steve Martin had revealed that Short got COVID-19 at the Saturday Night Live taping last weekend, possibly from Maya Rudolph.

Martin, 79, took to Instagram on Thursday, sharing a snap of Short, 74, and Rudolph, 52, kissing during the special.

He also added that two sold-out upcoming shows on his sold-out comedy tour with Short have been postponed for several months.

‘Maya had Covid. Marty has Covid. I wonder why? The SNL 50th Covid curse is real,’ Martin revealed on his post. 

‘Unfortunately, we have to reschedule our sold out Durham and Knoxville dates to 10/17 Knoxville and 10/18 Durham,’ he said.

‘So sorry for the inconvenience. I think we’ll be funnier then, anyway,’ Martin concluded.

There were two separate shows on their The Dukes of Funnytown Tour in Durham, North Carolina on February 22 at the Durham Performing Arts Center, one at 4 PM and one at 8 PM.

They were then supposed to move on to Knoxville, Tennessee and perform at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium on February 23.

Those were supposed to be their last shows for eight months, before shows in Hollywood, Florida on October 4 and Clearwater, Florida on October 5. 

Neither Short nor Rudolph have commented publicly about Martin’s post since he posted on Thursday evening.

Current Weekend Update host may have even foreshadowed the COVID news on a segment during the special.

‘Health experts are facing increased pressure this winter in the face of outbreaks of COVID, the flu, RSV and nanovirus, which they’re calling a quad-demic’ Jost said. 

‘So we did the smart thing and packed every beloved entertainer over 60 into one tiny space,’ he added.

Martin and Short both delivered a memorable monologue for the special, with Martin hosting the show 16 times and Short starring during the 1984-1985 season.

The Sunday night primetime special averaged an impressive 14.8 million viewers across NBC and the Peacock streaming service.

The 14.8 million viewers and the 2.53 rating within the all-important 18-49 demographic was the highest for any NBC telecast in five years.

The special also had 8.7 million social interactions, the most social telecast in the past two years for NBC.