ABC/Bob D’Amico(NEW YORK) — The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) is holding a star-studded fundraiser today to benefit the MPTF COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, helping those in Hollywood who lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.
Avengers: Endgame actress Yvette Nicole Brown is producing — and co-hosting — the special, along with Tom Bergeron. She caught up with ABC Audio, to tell us about the event. “We’re gonna have people like George Clooney and Leslie Odom, Jr. [and] Hugh Jackman.”
Other names include Pierce Brosnan, Allison Janney, Ken Jeong, Richard Marx and Brad Paisley. Dozens of stars lined up to take part, Brown tells us.
“I just have been amazed at how many people when you call and say, ‘Would you please…’ Like my friend Leslie Odom Jr., who won a Grammy and a Tony for Hamilton playing Aaron Burr. I just said in a text like, ‘Okay, you know, we’re doing this this fundraiser for the Motion Picture Television fund. We’re trying to create something where we can help industry members in need. Would you please –?’ And before I could get ‘Would you ple –‘ he was like, “Whatever you need. Need me to sing, need me to write, whatever you need.”
Brown says, “It just reinforces the heart that people have. You know, I don’t know anyone currently in this crisis, even the super duper rich people that aren’t suffering in some way. Right now, there are others that are suffering at the basic needs level and there’s others that are suffering. And maybe they lost a business.”
The one-hour special, titled We All Play Our Part, will broadcast today at 9 p.m. Eastern time on the organization’s YouTube page, and on the MPTF’s website.
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