BET Announces Livestream Partnership of “Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort” on TIDAL
Broadcast Special Also Available on ViacomCBS’ Pluto TV and BET+
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Academy Award-Winning Actress Halle Berry Added to Special Appearances
Anthony Anderson, Kelly Rowland, Terrence J, and Regina Hall Host “Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort,” Special Set to Air on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 at 8 pm EST
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BET Has Partnered With United Way to Create a Relief Fund, to Receive Financial Donations That Will Be Disbursed to Local Charities. For More Information Visit BET.com/COVID19
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BET Announces a Challenge Grant, to Match Additional Donations up To $2M
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#BETCOVIDRelief
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today BET announces partnership with TIDAL, global music and entertainment platform, to live-stream the “SAVING OUR SELVES: A BET COVID-19 RELIEF EFFORT,” special for free on TIDAL.com/BET. TIDAL members and non-members will be able to tune-in live starting at 8:00 pm EST. Additionally, Pluto TV, the leading free streaming television service in the US, will live-stream the special at 8 pm EST on Wednesday, April 22nd. Following the broadcast premiere, the encore of “SAVING OUR SELVES: A BET COVID-19 RELIEF EFFORT,” will be available on BET+ Thursday, April 23rd.
SAVING OUR SELVES: A BET COVID-19 RELIEF EFFORT will be available via the following:
- BET
- BETher
- BET International Channels (April 25th in the UK at 9:00 pm BST, Korea at 9:00 pm KST, Africa at 6:00 pm CAT, and France at 10:30 pm CEST.)
- BET.com
- BET Now App
- BET+ (encore available on April 23rd)
- BET VOD (encore available on April 23rd)
- Bounce
- BET Social Platforms – YouTube, Facebook, Twitter
- MTV2
- Pluto TV
- TIDAL
- VH1(immediate encore only)
Anthony Anderson, Kelly Rowland, Terrence J, and Regina Hall announced as hosts for the two-hour special and previously announced performances include Alicia Keys with a special tribute to New York City, and a Gospel moment with Kirk Franklin featuring Fantasia, Jonathan McReynolds, Kelly Price, Le’Andria Johnson, and Melvin Crispell III. Also featuring exclusive performances by John Legend, Usher, Jhene Aiko, Chloe X Halle, H.E.R., Ella Mai, Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, Swae Lee, Anthony Hamilton, Tyrese Gibson, Buju Banton, DJ D-Nice, SiR, D Smoke, and Charlie Wilson. And celebrity guest appearances by Halle Berry, Tiffany Haddish, Ciara, Don Cheadle, Deon Cole, Angela Rye, Dr. Rheeda Walker, Charlamagne Tha God, Symone D. Sanders, DJ Khaled and Chance The Rapper.
Connie Orlando, EVP of Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy at BET and Jesse Collins, CEO of Jesse Collins Entertainment will serve as Executive Producers for the “Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort” broadcast special.
Recent data established that the COVID-19 pandemic is infecting and killing black people in the United States at disproportionately high rates, compounding existing racial disparities in resources, health and wellness and access to medical care. To speak to these issues, BET News in partnership with Facebook and CBS News announced a primetime news special “BET News and Facebook Present: COVID-19: Black America’s Fight,” airing commercial-free Wednesday, April 22 at 7 PM ET on BET, BET HER and streamed on BET & BET News’ Facebook Pages. Anchored by CBS News’ Gayle King and a team of CBS News correspondents, the one-hour special will address in original interviews and taped packages, the disparate impacts of COVID-19 on the African American community and provide helpful and accurate information for viewers looking to protect themselves and their families from the epidemic’s spread.
The focus of the initiatives is to assist those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent findings have shown that Black Americans are being disproportionately harmed by the health and financial devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
BET, in partnership with the NAACP, United Way Worldwide, CBS News, leaders in the African American creative, civil rights and business communities will provide critical financial, educational and community support directly to the African Americans hardest hit by this crisis. Corporate brand donors who have generously contributed to the fund include Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Toyota, Salesforce, McDonald’s, AARP, Pine-Sol®, Morgan Stanley, TJ Maxx, BNY Mellon, WW(formerly Weight Watchers), NBA, and Popeyes. Additionally, the fund has received contributions from individual donors and grants from Blue Meridian Partners and The Ford Foundation.
Through the support of generous donors, BET has a new challenge grant which will match additional donations made during the duration of the special broadcast- up to $2 million.
Immediately following the Saving Our Selves linear broadcast, BET Digital will be live-streaming the ‘Saving Our Selves After Show’ at 10 pm EST on BET’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter channels. Hosted by Devale Ellis (BET’s ‘Sistas’) and his wife, social media influencer, Khadeen Ellis, the S.O.S After Show will take an interactive look back at the impactful message and celebrity moments in BET’s groundbreaking S.O.S relief broadcast.
Media will be able to embed the TIDAL live-stream using the code here: https://embed.tidal.com/#/videos/138260108
You can donate to the fund online via BET.com or by texting BETGives to 51555. More information on BET’s partnership with UWW and additional extensions of our relief efforts are forthcoming. For further details, please visit BET.com/COVID19.
About BET
BET, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC), is the nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news, and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa, and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks – BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.
ABOUT BET+
BET+ is a premium online streaming service with exclusive originals and thousands of TV episodes and movies from the best Black creators. A joint venture between BET Networks and Tyler Perry Studios, BET+ allows users to stream Black culture including hit movies, TV shows, stand-up comedy, award shows, and specials, all in one place, commercial-free. The new service from BET Networks, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc., is the official home of Tyler Perry’s film, TV and stage works. The ad-free subscription video-on-demand service also provides users with access to original content from the likes of Will Packer, Tracy Oliver and many more. Visit BET.com/BETPlus to learn more.
About Pluto TV
Pluto TV, a ViacomCBS Company, is the leading free streaming television service in America, delivering 250+ live and original channels and thousands of on-demand movies in partnership with major TV networks, movie studios, publishers, and digital media companies. Named by Fast Company as one of 2020’s Most Innovative Companies, with over 22 million monthly active users in the US, Pluto TV has a global footprint across three continents and 22 countries throughout the US, Europe and Latin America. Pluto TV is available on all mobile, web and connected TV streaming devices where millions tune in each month to watch premium news, TV shows, movies, sports, lifestyle, and trending digital series. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Pluto TV has offices in New York, Silicon Valley, Chicago and Berlin.
About United Way
United Way fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community. Supported by 2.9 million volunteers, 9.8 million donors worldwide and $4.7 billion raised every year, United Way is the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit. We’re engaged in 1,800 communities across more than 40 countries and territories worldwide to create sustainable solutions to the challenges facing our communities. United Way partners include global, national and local businesses, nonprofits, government, civic and faith-based organizations, along with educators, labor leaders, health providers, senior citizens, students and more. For more information about United Way, please visit UnitedWay.org. Follow us on Twitter: @UnitedWay and #LiveUnited.
About TIDAL
TIDAL is an artist-owned global music and entertainment platform that brings artists and fans closer together through unique original content and exclusive events. Available in 55 countries, the streaming service has more than 60 million songs and 250,000 high-quality videos in its catalog along with original video series, podcasts, thousands of expertly curated playlists and artist discovery via TIDAL Rising. With the commitment of its owners to create a more sustainable model for the music industry, TIDAL is available in premium and HiFi tiers—which includes Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) recordings, Sony’s 360 Reality Audio recordings, and Dolby Atmos Music.
ABOUT JESSE COLLINS ENTERTAINMENT
Jesse Collins Entertainment (JCE) is a full-service television and film production company founded by entertainment industry veteran and Emmy® Award nominee Jesse Collins. For more than a decade, the company has played an integral role in producing some of television’s most memorable moments in music entertainment including groundbreaking and award-winning television programming including the BET Awards, Soul Train Awards, Black Girls Rock!, BET Honors, UNCF An Evening of Stars, ABFF Honors, Def Comedy Jam 25, Love & Happiness: An Obama Celebration and the BET Hip Hop Awards. On the scripted side, JCE has produced numerous shows for BET including Real Husbands of Hollywood starring Kevin Hart as well as the critically acclaimed The New Edition Story, a biopic on the boy band that aired as a 3-part mini-series. It posted record ratings for the network and attracted nearly 30 million viewers. It was followed by The Bobby Brown Story, which chronicled the talented but troubled singer’s exit from the popular ’80s boy band through his solo success, and was the highest-rated non-tentpole program on the network since The New Edition Story. The company’s second season of American Soul, the critically-acclaimed period drama based on the untold rise of the iconic music and dance program Soul Train, will debut in 2020. For VH1, JCE has produced the network’s Mother’s Day special, Dear Mama and for HBO, the hit comedy special, Amanda Seales’ I Be Knowin. JCE also produces Nashville Squares for CMT and Rhythm and Flow where judges Cardi B, Chance the Rapper and T.I. search for the next breakout hip-hop star in this music competition series for Netflix. JCE’s hit game show Hip Hop Squares will also enter its fourth season on VH1 in 2020. Collins is a producer for The Grammy Awards and was on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop 100 Power Players list. He has been featured on the cover of Vibe magazine and in numerous publications including Ebony magazine’s Power 100 issue. Go to http://www.jessecollinsent.com/ for more information on the company.
Contacts
FOR BET:
LeToya Glenn-Bacon
212.205.3158
letoya.glenn@bet.net
Dezmon Gilmore
212.205.3159
dezmon.gilmore@viacom.com
FOR UNITED WAY WORLDWIDE :
Pamela Rucker Springs
703.683.7873
Pamela.springs@uww.unitedway.org
Southerlyn Reisig
703.836.7100 ext. 321
Southerlyn.Reisig@uww.unitedway.org
FOR TIDAL:
Alisa Finkelstein
212.827.3753
AFinkelstein@mww.com
FOR PLUTO TV:
Jodi Lederman
310.776.5775
jodi@pluto.tv