Carrie Underwood, David Cook “Stand Up to Cancer”
More than 50 famous personalities in film, sports and music will come together to make TV history on “Stand Up to Cancer.”
The lineup includes the “American Idol” winners with Oklahoma ties: Carrie Underwood, who was raised in Checotah, and David Cook, who was raised in Blue Springs, Mo., and lived and performed in Tulsa before “Idol.”
The live fund- and awareness-raising TV special will air simultaneously on ABC, NBC and CBS at 7 p.m. Sept. 5. The hour-long prime-time special will air commercial free. The proceeds will go to cancer research, according to an Associated Press story.
The event’s Web site, www.standup2cancer.org, lists an impressive lineup of talent who will be appearing, including Cook, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson, Meryl Streep, Christina Applegate, Lance Armstrong, Jack Black, Kirsten Dunst, Charles Barkley, America Ferrera, Halle Berry, Hilary Swank, Forest Whitaker, Jimmy Fallon and Keanu Reeves.
These celebrities and more will make personal appearances and answer viewers’ pledge calls in the celebrity phone bank.
Cook’s brother, Adam, has brain cancer.
Underwood will be among the high-profile recording artists who will perform the star-studded charity single “Just Stand Up” in its TV premiere on the special.
Other artists who will perform it include Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis and LeAnn Rimes, according to the site.
The celebrities, along with news anchors Katie Couric, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams, will offer an evening of “edutainment,” executive producer Laura Ziskin, a cancer survivor who helped establish the event and the nonprofit group behind it, told the AP.
“There will be laughter. There will be tears. And you’ll learn something about how we can turn the outcome of this disease if we just set our minds to it,” Ziskin told the AP.
She described the special as “a phone-in, a sit-in, a love-in” in which people can call in and talk to a famous person while doing a good deed.
She said the goal of the event is to encourage scientists to follow the networks’ lead: put aside competitive differences to work together to improve the fight against cancer.
“This is what we’re asking the whole cancer community to do,” she told the AP. “Put aside your competitive issues and come together for the greater good.”
-BAM
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I think they are both pretty lame!!! BLEH!!!