Saturday, dozens of stars around the world are coming together — virtually — for the global and digital broadcast of "One World: Together at Home," a concert event to support healthcare workers on the frontlines of the pandemic response and the World Health Organization.
The event has been curated in collaboration with star Lady Gaga and will feature top-tier acts like Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Elton John, and, just announced today, The Rolling Stones.
Mick Sheldrick, chief policy and government affairs officer at Global Citizen, told Cheddar Friday that businesses and philanthropists have been donating to the WHO's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund as part of "One World" and supporting local regional response efforts.
"What this fund is providing is much-needed equipment like PPE to health workers in over 75 countries. They're also providing tests to over 126 countries, and critically they are also supporting many of the laboratory scientists around the world who are rapidly working to develop a vaccine," Sheldrick said.
Lady Gaga has been a tremendous help, he noted and said she has made sure the organization is supporting the critical needs of healthcare workers around the world. He also said the singer will continue working with Global Citizen beyond tomorrow's event.
"She really went above and beyond to make sure she understood these issues and not only did she reach out and curate this phenomenal lineup, but she also did calls and reached out to some the CEO's of the largest companies in the U.S. and around the world," he said.
The two-hour special will begin streaming on digital platforms at 2 pm ET and will air on ABC, NBC, and CBS at 8 pm ET. The channels' late-night hosts, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert, have also joined in the effort and will host the special.
"We hope everyone will tune in and take some time out and show that spirit of solidarity," Sheldrick said.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Feb. 1, 2019.
Actress Samira Wiley has a promise for fans of her character Moira in "The Handmaid's Tale:" She's both in season three and alive. At least for now. "We should just be happy that's a thing," she told Cheddar Thursday.
The appearances of model Iskra Lawrence and actresses Busy Phillips and Jameela Jamil have all been dramatically altered by retouching in photographs. And all three are have joined forces with American Eagle's Aerie line for a new campaign to show women that reality is a beautiful thing.
PopSockets, the company behind the massively successful grips attached to the back of mobile phones, is eyeing a potential initial public offering, CEO and Founder David Barnett told Cheddar Thursday. "We are considering an IPO. We're considering all options," Barnett said in an interview with Cheddar Thursday.
Airbnb has become the largest player in the lodging market and is growing by about twice the rate of traditional lodging chains as new travelers come onto the platform and existing users book more reservations, e-commerce analyst Ken Cassar told Cheddar Thursday. Cassar, the vice president of strategy and insights at Rakuten Intelligence, said Airbnb now boasts a 25 percent share of the lodging market and reported a growth rate of 40 percent.
Nick Cannon is a busy man. The multi-talented host, producer, rapper, actor, and comedian is in Atlanta for this weekend's Super Bowl in between his gigs hosting "The Masked Singer," the new hit singing competition on FOX, and filling in for Wendy Williams on her eponymous talk show. Cannon told Cheddar he built his career by following a simple maxim: "Say no to anything that sounds like work."
When you got to a sporting event or a concert, you always see a much longer line for the ladies' room than the men's. So why hasn't anyone fixed the problem? Joe Pinsker, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins us to break down some of the possible solutions.
Facebook's year of scandal is a thing of the past ー at least according to Wall Street, Meridian Equity Partners' Jonathan Corpina told Cheddar. Wall Street's positive response to Facebook's impressive earnings show 2018's scandals are old news, Corpina said. "That's an old story; we are in 2019 now. It seems like investors have shrugged off all those negative headlines."
NorCal is on a mission to be a juggernaut in the California cannabis market, and the company has $27 million dollars in fresh funding to help it achieve that goal.
"It brings our total capital raise since inception to well over $50 million. We'll be deploying that capital across the value chain," said NorCal CEO Doug Cortina in an interview on Cheddar.
Step aside, Siri and Alexa. VR studio Fable is relaunching as a "virtual beings" company to bring the public its first A.I.-powered character with whom users can have a two-way relationship. According to co-founders Edward Saatchi and Pete Billington, the rebranding ー which the two announced at the 2019 Sundance Festival ー is partly an effort to educate consumers about machine learning.
