“Saturday Night Seder,” the star-studded virtual Passover Seder that premiered Saturday night on YouTube via www.SaturdayNightSeder.com and Buzzfeed’s Tasty YouTube, has raised more than $2,350,000 for the CDC Foundation’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Emergency Response Fund, it was announced today.
All funds raised came from more than 27,000 individual donors who contributed via SaturdayNightSeder.com ($1.7M), BuzzFeed’s Tasty Channel on YouTube ($500K) and the CDC Foundation’s homepage ($160K).
More than 1 million people watched the initial stream (which was trending on Twitter), but for those who missed it (or want to re-watch it!), “Saturday Night Seder” is now available to watch in its entirety, and viewers can still make donations to the CDC Foundation. To donate or watch, visit SaturdayNightSeder.com.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is creating so many needs where we can all come together to support and bolster our health and public health systems that protect us all,” said Judy Monroe, MD, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation. “I offer our profound thanks to the brilliant team that offered their time and talent for Saturday Night Seder. Their combined efforts not only gave us all a respite from the concerns of the day but hope and vital support that will save and improve lives.”
Donations to the CDC Foundation go to funding medical supplies, increasing lab capacity, deploying emergency staffing to public health agencies, providing support to vulnerable communities, addressing health communication needs, boosting clinical research to improve health outcomes, building capacity and infrastructure for global response efforts, and much more.
A star-studded group of singers, actors, comedians, religious leaders and more helped to tell the story of Passover last night. Participants included Pamela Adlon, Jason Alexander, Reza Aslan, Skylar Astin, Shoshana Bean, Mayim Bialik, Rachel Brosnahan, Rabbi Sharon Brous, D’Arcy Carden, Andy Cohen, Darren Criss, Fran Drescher, Billy Eichner, Cynthia Erivo, Liz Feldman, Beanie Feldstein, Harvey Fierstein, Tan France, Eliot Glazer, Ilana Glazer, Judy Gold, Josh Groban, Sarah Hurwitz, Richard Kind, Julie Klausner, Nick Kroll, Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, Dan Levy, Judith Light, Joshua Malina, Camryn Manheim, Milo Manheim, Alan Menken, Idina Menzel, Debra Messing, Bette Midler, Isaac Mizrahi, Busy Philipps, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Senator Chuck Schumer, Stephen Schwartz, Sarah Silverman, Michael Solomonov, Shaina Taub, Nina West, Henry Winkler, Finn Wolfhard and Rabbi David Wolpe.
Hosted by Jason Alexander, the 1-hour Seder included a special version of the Four Questions from Idina Menzel and Finn Wolfhard, a rousing rendition of “Go Down Moses” by Billy Porter, a poignant performance from Cynthia Erivo and Shoshana Bean, accompanied by composer Stephen Schwartz on piano and much, much more. Highlighted from the Saturday Night Seder are available on the Tasty YouTube page.
Rooted in tradition but rewritten to include comedy, music and sketches, “Saturday Night Seder” was a grassroots effort put together in eighteen days by a team (who never met in person!) that includes StoryCourse, Reboot, Producers Rebecca Halperin, Jen Snow, and Rachel Sussman and Writers Alex Edelman (Head Writer), Hannah Friedman, Sas Goldberg, Josh Harmon, Michael Mitnick and Mark Sonnenblick and Executive Producers Erich Bergen, Talia Halperin, Adam Kantor, Benj Pasek.
