NASHVILLE – From finding ways to help others cope to sheltering in place to canceling events, here’s a look at some of the ways the entertainment industry is reacting to the spread of the coronavirus, which most people recover from but can cause severe illness in the elderly and those with preexisting medical conditions.
TAYLOR SWIFT SENDING MONEY TO FANS
Taylor Swift is helping fill the blank space where incomes have gone for several of her fans. Some have gotten thousands of dollars from the “Lover” and “1989” hit maker.
One fan, Holly Turner, got a cash infusion from Swift after the freelance music photographer and graphic designer wrote on Tumblr that her livelihood was threatened and she was considering whether to leave New York City.
Swift sent $3,000 and wrote, “Holly, you’ve always been there for me. I want to be there for you right now. I hope this helps. Love, Taylor.” Turner was understandably shocked. Swift “literally single-handedly saved my ability to stay here. I cannot even believe my eyes right now,” Turner wrote.
Swift also sent $3,000 to another fan who was stressed about bills piling up, prompting this response from the grateful recipient: “This beautiful magical unbelievable human. I don’t even know where to begin.”
‘OUR COUNTRY’ LINEUP ANNOUNCED
The Academy of Country Music announced an all-star list of performers for its an at-home country music special that is airing on CBS on April 5, in lieu of its delayed awards show. Shania Twain, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood and Eric Church are among 23 performers that will be featured in “ACM Presents: Our Country.”
The ACMs delayed the scheduled awards show to Sept. 16, which will be hosted by Urban.
Other stars who will be performing at home for the special include Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown and John Legend, Luke Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker and Thomas Rhett.
The show will also feature a tribute to the late country legend Kenny Rogers, who died March 20, by Bryan, Paisley and Rucker.
BROADWAY MOURNS ANOTHER LOSS
Stage, movie and TV character actor Mark Blum, who had roles in the films “Desperately Seeking Susan” and “Crocodile Dundee,” has died from complications from the coronavirus. He was 69.
An executive with the labor union SAG-AFTRA and the off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons announced the death Thursday. Blum had been a fixture off-Broadway with recent roles in Playwrights Horizons’ “Rancho Viejo” and “Fern Hill” at 59E59 Theaters. He was a SAG-AFTRA board member from 2007-2013.
“Those of us lucky enough to have known him will treasure our memories of a gifted actor, a master teacher, a loyal friend, and a beautiful human,” Rebecca Damon, SAG-AFTRA executive vice president and New York president, wrote in tribute.
Blum’s recent Broadway credits included “The Assembled Parties,” “Twelve Angry Men,” “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” — twice — and Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers.”
Blum played Rosanna Arquette’s husband in the 1985 comedy “Desperately Seeking Susan” and had a role in “Crocodile Dundee” as the newspaper editor. He was on the Amazon series “Mozart in the Jungle” and was in the Netflix crime drama “You.”
The virus has sickened some Broadway veterans, including the actors Gavin Creel, Aaron Tveit and Laura Bell Bundy and composer David Bryan. It also has claimed the life of four-time Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally.
‘WASP’ ACTRESS WALKS BACK ‘FREEDOM’ TALK
Evangeline Lilly is apologizing for downplaying the importance of isolation amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The “Ant Man and the Wasp” and “Lost” actress had come under fire for a March 16 Instagram post in which she said she valued her freedom and was carrying on with business as usual.
In a new post Thursday, she said at the time directives were not to congregate in large groups, and she believed people were overdoing social distancing, but once those directives changed she did too.
“At the time of my Mar 16th post, the directives from the authorities here were that we not congregate in groups of more than 250ppl and that we wash our hands regularly, which we were doing,” Lilly said Thursday. “PLEASE KNOW I AM DOING MY PART TO FLATTEN THE CURVE, PRACTICING SOCIAL DISTANCING AND STAYING HOME WITH MY FAMILY,” she said emphatically in the new post.
She went on to give “special apologies to those most affected by this pandemic,” saying “I never meant to hurt you. When I wrote that post 10 days ago, I thought I was infusing calm into the hysteria. I can see now that I was projecting my own fears into an already fearful and traumatic situation.”
