Mark your calendars, Directioners! One Direction will be making its first awards show appearance minus Zayn Malik on Sunday, May 17, at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, Us Weekly can exclusively reveal.
The remaining foursome — Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Liam Payne — are due to present at the star-studded event hosted by Ludacris and Chrissy Teigen. Other celebs on the docket include Laverne Cox, Celine Dion, the cast of Entourage, Rita Ora, and The Bachelorette's Kaitlyn Bristowe and Britt Nilsson.
The show — broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas — will be the group's first major red carpet event since Malik's departure in March. Their only scheduled appearance before then is a booking on James Corden's The Late Late Show on CBS.
As previously reported, Malik quit the world-famous boy band in March, shortly after leaving their On the Road Again world tour. "I'd like to apologize to the fans if I've let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right in my heart," he wrote in a Facebook post at the time. "I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight."
Horan, Payne, Tomlinson, and Styles were, by their own admission, "gutted," but vowed to stay together as a quartet. "We're feeling confident and are determined to carry on stronger than ever," they said in an interview with The Sun after Malik's exit.
The 2015 Billboard Music Awards will air live on ABC at 8 p.m. on May 17. Performers include Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea, and Little Big Town and Faith Hill.
