For President-elect Trump, a former reality star, Friday’s Inauguration is the ultimate show. However, a group of celebrities are taking a page from television to provide an alternative. From 12:30 PM until 3:30 PM ET, the Love-a-thon will take place, airing on Facebook Live.
Celebrities like Judd Apatow , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Jane Fonda , Ilana Glazer, and Edward James Olmos will appear and funds will go towards the American Civil Liberties Union, Earthpeace, and Planned Parenthood. Upworthy serves as the event’s media partner.
“Each of these organizations helps our most marginalized communities and protects our democratic norms and civil liberties every day through their work. Over the next four years, they will also each face significant challenges to their existence. The Love-a-thon efforts will bring many people together to help in those fights,” organizer Alex Godin said in a statement.
TKNN spoke to Godin, a tech entrepreneur, about the event. He acknowledged that the election did have an impact and that he “got together with a group of entrepreneurial friends and we decided that this was a really important opportunity to support causes like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and Earthjustice as they gear up to do the critical work of fighting for our most marginalized communities – and democratic norms – over the next four years.”
“While the election originally inspired us to get out and do something, our actual motivation for the telethon was to offer a non-political way for people to stand together to promote American values at a time when we desperately need it.”
The goal for the Jerry Lewis-inspired telethon is $500,000 and there is no decision yet as to whether the telethon will take place again.