WHOOPI GOLDBERG TEAMS UP WITH EXTINCTION REBELLION: Whoopi Goldberg is collaborating with the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion on a short film called The Gigantic Change. The three-minute animation that looks back from 2050 to show how people can work together to save Earth from the climate crisis. The Extinction Rebellion aims to use nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action over climate change.
OPRAH WINFREY TO HOST TWO-NIGHT TV TOWN HALL: Oprah Winfrey will host a two-night TV town hall addressing racism in America following the protests following the murder of George Floyd. The event, dubbed OWN Spotlight: Where Do We Go From Here?, is scheduled to air June 9 and 10. It will be available on OWN, it’s social channels and Discovery Channel, TLC, HGTV and the Science Channel. “There is no one like Oprah to bring us all together at this critical moment in our history to offer insights, perspective and action,” said David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery Inc. “We are honored to partner with OWN and use our global reach to amplify this important discussion about the global issues of economic and social justice and equality to a potential audience of one billion people across more than 200 markets in a way that only Discovery can.”
WANDA SYKES URGES WHITE PEOPLE TO PROTEST: Wanda Sykes is reaching out to white people and asking them to support the Black Lives Matter movement. She told Jimmy Kimmel of her push to as white people to “step up”: “I just had to do something. It's like, we can't do it alone. We're out there marching and asking for change. You know, we need white people to do it. We need white people to tell white people to stop being racist because when we do it, obviously it's not working.”
DISNEY ASKS MARKETERS TO ‘RE-ENGAGE’: With coronavirus in shutdown mode, Disney is asking marketers to rev up again. “In a world where everyone has data, and everyone has targeting, and everyone has all of that capability, it is the narrative and the story and the brand and the connections to the hearts and minds of consumers and how we tell those stories that is going to stick out more than anything,” Disney president of ad sales and partnerships Rita Ferro tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “I think flexibility means different things to different advertisers,” Ferro says. “For some it might be ‘I want to be able to move money from broadcast to cable to sports to streaming,’ for others it may be ‘I need to shift my creative messaging and therefore need to push my campaign to a few months later,’ for others it may be that ‘I need to get out of some of my commitments,’ and for others it may be that ‘I want to heavy up buy a lot of ads in a short period of time and don’t want to pay a premium for it.'”