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TV Medical Dramas Are Donating Supplies to Hospitals Fighting COVID-19

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3 years ago

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  • In an effort to help medical professionals facing equipment shortages, TV shows like “Greys Anatomy,” “Station 19,” and others are donating their stock of supplies.
  • This comes as companies like Apple, Facebook, Tesla, L’Oreal, and others redirect efforts to produce or donate essential goods like hand sanitizers, masks, and ventilators. 
  • The White House has not ordered companies to produce emergency equipment under the Defense Production Act, despite calls from politicians and medical associations.
  • But the lack of supplies has become dire, with NYC’s mayor saying, “If we don’t get ventilators this week, we are going to start losing lives we could have saved.”

Medical Shows Donate

Hospitals around the globe have been working tirelessly to treat the growing cases of coronavirus, all while dealing with shortages of masks, gloves, and other essential medical supplies. Now, several TV shows are stepping in to do what they can to support those on the frontlines of this pandemic.

ABC representative said several of its shows were donating their stock of highly-needed goods. “At ‘Station 19,’ we were lucky enough to have about 300 of the coveted N95 masks which we donated to our local fire station. They were tremendously grateful,” the representative said.  

Those masks were given a station in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood, as well as the Ontario, California Fire Department where firefighters were having to reuse masks because of the shortage.

ABC’s “Greys Anatomy,” one of several shows forced to halt productions amid the pandemic, also donated its backstock of gowns and gloves from its costume department to local L.A. hospitals. Meanwhile, “The Good Doctor,” donated surgical masks, surgical gowns, face shields, soap, disposable booties, disposable isolation suits, latex gloves, and medical caps to Vancouver Coastal Health. 

“We are all overwhelmed with gratitude for our healthcare workers during this incredibly difficult time, and in addition to these donations, we are doing our part to help them by staying home,” ABC added in its statement.

But donations didn’t stop there, NBC’s “New Amsterdam,” which films in New York hospitals, donated masks, gloves, and gowns to the New York State Department of Health. This news came after actor Daniel Dae Kim, who just scored a recurring role on the show, announced he was diagnosed with COVID-19 himself. 

FOX’s medical drama “The Resident” made a donation of gowns, glows, scrubs, shoe covers, lab coats, masks, and other items to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, where the show is filmed. Showrunner Amy Holden Jones told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s pretty appalling to think that our doctors and nurses at hospitals don’t have the proper protection — they’re facing these patients who are highly contagious without being protected.”

Other Shows Follow Suit 

Even non-medical shows are stepping in help. FX’s “Pose” donated supplies it had from some of its episodes. In an Instagram post the show’s creator Ryan Murphy wrote, “One of our regular sets and locations is a hospital where in Season 3 Blanca works as an AIDS/HIV counselor. Today, we donated all our prop supplies to Mount Sinai hospital to help nurses and doctors battling the Covid outbreak. Let’s all keep giving when and where and how we can.” 

“Filthy Rich,” a satirical dramedy that airs on Fox, said it was planning to make a donation of cleaning supplies and food pallets.

Businesses Help as Situation Becomes Dire 

Several other shows have been turning over what they can while businesses think of ways to redirect their efforts toward helping healthcare workers. For example, brands like L’Oréal Group, 

Coty Inc, and perfume makers like Givenchy and Dior, are using their facilities to produce hand sanitizers to give to French and European health authorities for free. 

At a press conference on Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence said Apple would donate two million respirator mask to help in the fight against COVID-19. CEO Tim Cook later confirmed that claim on Twitter.

And even the clothing company Hanes is retrofitting factories to make masks. Facebook also said it would give its emergency reserve of 720,000 masks to health workers. The company had initially bought them in case the wildfires in California continued. Zuckerberg said the company is also “working on sourcing millions of more to donate.” 

Meanwhile. Tesla has been donating supplies to medical centers in need and its CEO Elon Musk said his company is making ventilators. He expects to have over 1,200 to distribute this week.

These are just some of the companies volunteering their efforts. The White House has not demanded that companies produce emergency gear, which the president can do under the Defense Production Act. Despite calls from politicians and medical associations for the president to use the DPA, the administration has only encouraged companies to donate what they can. 

When President Trump signed the DPA last week, he said he will only use it as a “worst-case scenario.”

Over the weekend he said he hasn’t needed to use the DPA because of all the help from companies stepping up so far. 


Vice President Mike Pence said the federal government had placed orders for “hundreds of millions” of the N95 face masks, though it is unclear when that supplies will arrive and if it will be available before facilities start getting completely overwhelmed by patients.

As each day passes, it’s becoming more and more apparent how dire the shortages are in some areas. Earlier this week New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio estimated that the city had enough supplies to make it into April, but now he says there is only enough to get through this week.

In an interview with CNN Monday, he said called on anyone with equipment to donate, saying, “If we don’t get ventilators this week, we are going to start losing lives we could have saved. I can’t be blunter than that.”

On top of that, Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams warned Monday that the coronavirus outbreak will worsen this week, as he encouraged Americans to stay home. “I want America to understand this week, it’s going to get bad,” Adams said in an interview on the “TODAY” show.

“Everyone needs to act as if they have the virus right now. So, test or no test, we need you to understand you could be spreading it to someone else. Or you could be getting it from someone else. Stay at home.” 

See what others are saying: (Variety) (The Hollywood Reporter) (The Verge)   

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Britney Spears Asks For Privacy After Fans Called Cops to Conduct a Wellness Check on Her

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2 days ago

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January 26, 2023

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Fans said they were concerned after the singer deleted her Instagram account.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was updated to include a statement from Britney Spears

Fans Call 911

Britney Spears said her fans “went a little too far” after some called the police to conduct a wellness check on her. 

The fans, many fueled by online conspiracy theories, were concerned about Spears because she deleted her Instagram account. While this is something the singer has done multiple times in the past, her fans thought she had left secret signals in her last post suggesting she needed help.

Some even posted videos of them calling emergency services on TikTok, a platform that is full of conspiracy videos about Spears. 

“I love and adore my fans but this time things went a little too far and my privacy was invaded,” Spears wrote in a statement on Thursday, citing “prank phone calls” that were made to police.

According to Spears, officers did not enter her home because once they got to her gate, they “quickly realized there was no issue and left immediately.”

“This felt like I was being gaslit and bullied once the incident made it to the news and being portrayed once again in a poor and unfair light by the media,” Spears continued. “During this time in my life, I truly hope the public and my fans who I care so much about can respect my privacy moving forward.”

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Ventura County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Page Six that the department “did get calls into our dispatch” but added there was no reason to believe that Spears was “in any kind of harm or any kind of danger.”

That spokesperson declined to say if officials contacted Spears or conducted a wellness check, citing privacy and public trust issues.

The Prominence of Britney Spears Conspiracies 

Just over a year has passed since Spears was freed from a highly restrictive conservatorship that controlled her life and finances for 13 years. Throughout the conservatorship, fans tried to use the pop icon’s social media to pick up clues that she was secretly struggling. She did not publicly speak about the conservatorship until the summer of 2021. 

Now that she has her freedom, fans are still reading heavily into her posts. Some believe there are hidden messages in her captions and in the gestures she does while dancing. Others think she is dead, missing, or hiding and that a body double is being used in her posts. Some are so concerned that they are coordinating a mass effort to pressure the Los Angeles Times into investigating Spears’ whereabouts and safety. 

In the last several years, many have reflected on Spears’ early days in the spotlight and the cruel ways she was harassed and targeted by paparazzi, news outlets, and culture at large. Often the punchline to a joke throughout the 2000s, many now sympathize with Spears, who was forced to endure heavy public scrutiny at a young age. Documentaries like “Framing Britney Spears” prompted many to see Spears as a victim of abusive media tactics, not the “crazy” woman tabloids painted her to be. 

Many are now concerned that fans are only going to subject Spears to a new onslaught of harassment by calling the police to her house. Even if the conspiracy theories are technically well-intentioned and often come from a place of concern, some believe they will jumpstart a media frenzy that could harm Spears’ mental well-being.

See what others are saying: (Page Six) (Jezebel) (TMZ)

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Razzies Apologize For Nominating 12-Year-Old, Adopt Age Rules For Future Nominations

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3 days ago

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January 25, 2023

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The group’s founder said the Razzies regret “any hurt” the young actress may have “experienced as a result of our choices.”

Razzies Face Backlash

The Razzie Awards revoked its “insensitive” nomination of 12-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong and added new guidelines banning child performers from being nominated in the future. 

The Razzies, which award the year’s worst movies, included Armstrong in its “Worst Actress” lineup for her role in “Firestarter.” Bryce Dallas Howard, Diane Keaton, Kaya Scodelario, and Alicia Silverstone were also nominated in the category.

Armstrong starred alongside Zac Efron in “Firestarter,” an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The picture received a 10% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. 

While the film was broadly panned, many thought it was a bridge too far to nominate a child for a bad acting award.

“The Razzies are already mean-spirited & classless, but to nominate a kid is just repulsive & wrong,” child star Julian Hilliard, best known for his work in “WandaVision,” tweeted. “Why put a kid at risk of increased bullying or worse? Be better.”

Actor and podcast host Brandon Hardesty said the nomination was “completely ignorant and cynical.”

“They have no clue what this can do to a child actress who probably considered her starring role in FIRESTARTER as a high point in her life,” he wrote. 

“That girl was the best part of that mess of a movie,” film critic Shannon McGrew tweeted. “And on top of that, no kid should ever be nominated for an award that punches down on them.”

Nomination Revoked

Razzies founder John Wilson addressed the backlash in a statement to the press on Wednesday, calling the criticism “valid.”

“Sometimes, you do things without thinking, Then you are called out for it. Then you get it,” Wilson said. “It’s why the Razzies were created in the first place.”

“We have removed Armstrong’s name from the Final Ballot that our members will cast next month,” he continued. “We also believe a public apology is owed Ms. Armstrong, and wish to say we regret any hurt she experienced as a result of our choices.”

In addition to removing Armstrong’s nomination, The Razzies is now adopting “a Voting Guideline precluding any performer or film-maker under 18 years of age from being considered” for awards. 

“Since our motto is ‘Own Your Bad,’ we realize that we ourselves must also live up to it,” the statement closed.

While Armstrong will be the last child to nab a Razzie nomination, she was far from the first. Jake Lloyd made the list for his turn as young Anakin Skywalker in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.” Gary Coleman and Macaulay Culkin also got nominations as teenagers.

See what others are saying: (Deadline) (The Hollywood Reporter) (People)

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SeatGeek CEO Calls to Break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation in Senate Hearing Following Taylor Swift Debacle

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4 days ago

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January 24, 2023

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“A lack of robust competition in our industry meaningfully stunts innovation, and consumers are who suffer,” Jack Groetzinger said.

Monopoly Concerns

Two months after technical difficulties blocked countless Taylor Swift fans from snagging seats to her tour, a bipartisan group of Senators held a hearing to re-examine the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

The two entertainment giants merged in 2010. Jack Groetzinger, the CEO of the rival ticket-selling platform SeatGeek, said during Tuesday’s hearing that the two need to be broken up to benefit consumers. 

“One, a lack of robust competition in our industry meaningfully stunts innovation, and consumers are who suffer,” he said. “Two, venues fear losing Live Nation concerts if they don’t use Ticketmaster, and three, the only way to restore competition in this industry is to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation.” 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) echoed concerns about the lack of competition, arguing that Live Nation is the “definition of monopoly.”

“Live Nation is so powerful that it doesn’t even need to exert pressure, it doesn’t need to threaten, because people just fall in line,” she said. 

The Eras Tour Debacle

Ticketmaster has long been accused of price-gouging and complicating the ticket-buying process. Those issues made international headlines in November during the presale for Swift’s highly anticipated Era’s Tour. 

Millions of fans who attempted to enter Ticketmaster’s virtual queue walked away empty-handed after experiencing crashes, price inflation, and a myriad of other issues. 

According to Ticketmaster, the incredibly high demand, coupled with an onslaught of bot attacks, forced the platform to slow sales down. After the company delayed sales in certain cities and canceled the general sale altogether, Swift called the ordeal “excruciating.”

“We asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could,” she wrote on Instagram in November. 

The controversy prompted many to accuse Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, of holding a monopoly over the concert and live events industry. The U.S. Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the entertainment giant. 

Ticketmaster Takes Heat

Ticketmaster has repeatedly tried to blame a number of factors for the failed Swift presale, even at one point suggesting the sale was too popular because the “Anti-Hero” singer waited so long to tour. 

“May I suggest, respectfully, that Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem, it’s me,’” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said during the hearing. 

Still, the company continued to point the finger at record-breaking bot attacks. 

“We knew bots would attack at onsale and planned accordingly. We were then hit with three times the amount of bot traffic that we’d ever experienced,” Live Nation CFO Joe Berchtold said on Capitol Hill. 

“The attack requires [us] to slow down and even pause our sales. This is what led to a terrible consumer experience we deeply regret. We apologize to the fans, we apologize to Miss Swift, we need to do better and we will do better,” he continued. 

Others present at the hearing were not happy with Live Nation’s bot defense. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said that she has worked with companies in a variety of industries that deal with bots without these issues. 

“You know what, they get bot attacks every single day by the thousands. By the thousands,” she said. “And they have figured it out, but you guys haven’t? This is unbelievable.” 

“You can’t blame bots for what happened to Taylor Swift,” JAM Productions CEO Jerry Mickelson added. “There’s more to that story that you’re not hearing.”

According to Mickelson, Ticketmaster can actually stand to benefit from glitchy sales on its platform. 

“The process, when it’s slowed down, increases the money that Ticketmaster makes because they make money on fees and as the ticket prices go up due to dynamically priced tickets, Ticketmaster makes more off that,” he claimed. “So it’s to their advantage to slow the process down.”

Outrage against Ticketmaster has become so widespread that Sen. Blumenthal said the company was responsible for “an absolutely stunning achievement.” 

“You have brought together Republicans and Democrats in an absolutely unified cause.”

See what others are saying: (Axios) (USA Today) (New York Times)

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