Barack Obama has pulled out of his scheduled appearance on Saturday Night Live due to Hurricane Ike.

The Democratic presidential nominee’s spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, told the Associated Press that Obama didn’t feel like it was appropriate after the storm made landfall in Texas.

In addition, the hurricane may affect the tone of the NBC show’s season premiere, which will be hosted by Olympian Michael Phelps.

“If it’s serious, it will change everything for us,” the show’s creator and producer Lorne Michaels told Politco on Friday. “The tone of the show will shift, and it would be inappropriate for the senator to do if it looks in any way like it’s going to be a tragedy.”

According to the AP report, Obama also scaled down a planned rally in New Hampshire in the wake of the hurricane, and plans to return to Chicago after his campaign event where he will spend the weekend at home.

Pop diva Mariah Carey will be filling in on ‘SNL’ for Janet Jackson, who is sick with the flu. Jackson, 41, was scheduled to perform one of the singles off her newly released album, “Discipline.”

NBC announced Wednesday that Carey, 37, will be filling in for Jackson’s scheduled performance in New York on March 15.

Jackson’s publicist, Patti Webster, released a statement on Tuesday saying Jackson dropped out because she has the flu and “needs some time to get better.”

This will be Carey’s first appearance on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in over 10 years. Carey has a new album out on April 15 called E=MC2.