The universal Hand in Hand Telethon aired on Tuesday night across all network channels.
The hour-long, star-studded telethon, which filmed in Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, and San Antonio, was kicked off by Stevie Wonder performing the Bill Withers classic “Lean on Me.” Other performers included Usher, Blake Shelton, Demi Levato, Chris Stapleton, Luis Fonsi, Cece Winans and Tori Kelly.
Celebrities including, Cher, Bruce Willis, Justin Bieber, Eric McCormack, Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Julianne Moore, Jamie Foxx, Ryan Seacrest, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sofia Vergara, Andy Cohen, Charlie Rose, Questlove Gomez, Lupita Nyongo, Jon Stewart and Taraji P. Henson, manned the phones for taking pledges and making pleas asking viewers to donate what they can. $14 million was raised in just one hour the telethon was on the air.
The telethon also included footage from Houston as they tried to rebuild from the aftermath of Harvey.
Houston native, Beyonce, who recently visited the disaster-ridden city in a show of support, sent in a pre-recorded message that said:
“During a time where it’s impossible to watch the news without seeing violence or racism in this country, just when you think it couldn’t possibly get worse, natural disasters take precious life, do massive damage and forever change lives. Natural disasters don’t discriminate. They don’t see if you’re an immigrant, black or white, Hispanic or Asian, Jewish or Muslim, wealthy or poor. It doesn’t matter if you’re from Third Ward or River Oaks, we’re all in this together. Seeing everyone of different racial, social and religious backgrounds put their own lives at risk to help each other survive, restored my faith in humanity.”
Below is a performance by Usher and Blake Shelton that aired tonight.
To donate, visit: https://handinhand2017.com/
