J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Mariska Hargitay & More Protest NBC's Trump Town Hall | THR News - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

The list of heavyweights who signed the letter of protest includes J.J. Abrams; 'Law & Order: SVU' star Mariska Hargitay, 'This Is Us' creator Dan Fogelman and Ava DuVernay, among others.

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00:00More than a hundred top Hollywood players are protesting the timing of NBC's town hall with

00:05President Donald Trump. Top NBC talent like Law & Order SVU star Mariska Hargitay, This Is Us star

00:10Sterling K. Brown, and Chris Maloney are among those who signed a letter of protest sent to

00:15Comcast and NBC Universal executives. The group who signed the letter also includes such heavy

00:20weights as J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Aaron Sorkin, Greg Berlanti, Brian Murphy, and Seth

00:26McFarlane, among many others. The town hall with Trump is set to air Thursday night across

00:31NBC's platforms opposite ABC's town hall with Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The petition told

00:37the executives, you are enabling the president's bad behavior while undercutting the presidential

00:41debate commission and doing a disservice to the American public. They continue, this is not a

00:46partisan issue. This is about the political health of our democracy. The hour-long Trump event is

00:51scheduled to air tonight on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC at 8 p.m. Eastern, a direct conflict with the first

00:57hour of Biden's 90-minute town hall on ABC. The two candidates were originally scheduled to appear

01:03together in person for a town hall on C-SPAN. That plan changed after Trump contracted coronavirus and

01:09the Commission on Presidential Debates decided to make the event virtual. Trump declined to participate

01:13and hours later, Biden set his town hall on ABC. NBC leadership then offered Trump a town hall,

01:19ultimately insisting on two conditions. Trump had to provide evidence that he would not present a

01:24safety risk to others who would be present, and he had to allow the network to select the moderator.

01:29He agreed. The letter concludes, we are simply asking that NBC air the president's town hall

01:33either before or after Vice President Biden so that American voters can have the opportunity to watch

01:38both. We understand the necessities of business, especially in this difficult time,

01:42but we believe there are larger issues of civic responsibility at stake here. NBC responded to the

01:47letter saying it will proceed as scheduled with its town hall with Trump. NBC News Group Chairman

01:52Cesar Conde said in a statement, our decision is motivated only by fairness, not business

01:57considerations. He went on to say, we are to town hall with Vice President Biden on October 5th at 8 p.m.

02:03If we were to move our town hall with President Trump to a later time slot, we would be violating our

02:08commitment to offer both campaigns access to the same audience and the same forum. We hope voters will

02:13watch both discussions. Ours will be available at any time free and on demand on YouTube, Peacock,

02:18and all our digital news platforms. For more on this story and to read the full letter,

02:22go to THR.com. For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.

J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Mariska Hargitay & More Protest NBC's Trump Town Hall | THR News

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