Oprah Winfrey has been bugged to kick off Project Angel Food’s third annual telethon — Lead with love 3 presented by City National Bank — broadcast live on KTLA 5 on July 23.
Presented by Eric McCormack and TV personality Jessica Holmes, the telethon will also feature appearances from a long list of names in bold, including Josh Groban, Sharon Stone† Whoopi Goldberg† Bryce Dallas HowardEugene Levy, Paula Abdul, Fran Drescher, Gloria Estefan, Beth Hall, Sean Hayes, Karamo Brown, Rachel Lindsay, Lori Loughlin, Ross Mathews, Pauley Perrette, Melissa Peterman, Danny Pino, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Nicole Sullivan, Holland Taylor and a Charlie’s Angels reunion thanks to original stars Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd.
Loni Love and Alec Mapa have been booked to return as co-hosts, while the musical program will feature pre-recorded performances of Sarah McLachlan, Five for Fighting and Pat Benatar with Neil Giraldo. Debbie Gibson and Taylor Dayne perform live at KTLA Studios in Hollywood.
“Oprah provides a powerful opening to our show, encouraging all of us to rise to the challenge of our present moment through compassion and empathy that will have a lasting impact on our community,” said executive producer Brad Bessey, who also serves as head of communications and talent. relations for Project Angel Food.
Bessey is joined by an experienced live event and unscripted producer Michael Levitt (American Rescue Dog Show, Daytime Emmy Awards), Richard Ayoub, CEO of Project Angel Food, and Marcus Smith and Jacob Burch of KTLA for KTLA. Michelle Robinson returns as co-exec producer.
“While this year’s show will be a packed, entertaining two-hour show of celebrity, music, comedy and heartwarming profiles of our clients and our work, we can’t lose sight of our goal: to raise $1 million in just one night,” Ayoub said. “Due to increasing demand and skyrocketing fuel and food costs, it will cost us $1 million more to service the critically ill LAs this year than it did last year. We rely on viewer sponsorship and donations during Lead with love 3 to bridge that gap.”
Since its premiere in June 2020, Lead with love raised $2 million for Project Angel Food‘s work of feeding critically ill men, women and children in Los Angeles County. The organization prepares and delivers more than 1.2 million medically customized meals every year.