Today, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, announced “It’s #Up2Us: Stand Up To Cancer | The Digital Live Show,” a one-hour standalone digital event that will stream on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT on Friday Sept. 7, leading into the 2018 televised roadblock special, which airs live from 8:00–9:00 PM ET/PT / 7:00 PM CT.
In an effort to empower a new generation to Stand Up To Cancer, this first-of-its-kind show will stream on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in a proactive initiative in the fight against cancer. Additionally, the show will be featured across iHeartMedia’s multiple social platforms. It’s #Up2Us: Stand Up To Cancer | The Digital Live Show will be co-hosted by Max Greenfield, Tyler Posey, and Brenda Song, and feature influencers and stars from digital, TV, film, and music. Rhett + Link, Uzo Aduba, Beth Behrs, Paris Berelc, Katie Couric, Hannah Hart, Olivia Holt, Ken Jeong, Liza Koshy, My Nguyen, Teni Panosian, Candice Patton, Andrea Russett, iHeartRadio’s JoJo Wright, Mackenzie and Maddie Ziegler, and more will participate in this memorable event. Additional stars and performers will be announced in the coming days.
“This is a cause that is personal to me and I’m honored to continue working with Stand Up To Cancer. I’m excited to be involved in the It’s #Up2Us: Stand Up To Cancer | Digital Live Show,” said co-host Max Greenfield. “I’m passionate about encouraging the younger generation to lean into the conversation around cancer and become active voices and early champions in this important cause.”
Said Tyler Posey: “I am so honored to co-host Stand Up To Cancer’s Digital Live Show this year. The mission of SU2C is one that sits close to my heart, having lost my beautiful mother to breast cancer in 2014. It was devastating for my family… she was the glue that held us all together. But we had an incredible support system around us. With this digital show, I hope that we reach my contemporaries to raise awareness for this dreadful disease…because we are stronger if we stand together.”
“I’m grateful to be a part of this memorable night with Stand Up To Cancer once again,” said co-host Brenda Song. “Unfortunately, too many of us have been affected by this disease. We lost my grandfather to nasopharyngeal cancer in 2015 and my mother is a three-time breast cancer survivor. As someone who has been through these challenges, I learned that knowledge is power in the fight; asking doctors questions and immersing myself in the research helped me and my family cope. With this digital show, I am pleased to tell my story and listen to others’ journeys.”
Fans can access the live stream on Facebook and Twitter via @SU2C and on YouTube at YouTube.com/SU2C on computers, tablets and mobile devices. The stream on Twitter will be accompanied by a Twitter timeline, featuring related real-time conversation to create a unified experience for viewers to watch, Tweet and view commentary about The Digital Live Show. Additionally, several weeks leading up to the broadcast event, iHeartMedia will launch an on-air and online campaign across its more than 850 radio stations and websites and on iHeartRadio.com, designed to build awareness and funding for cancer research and drive tune-in to SU2C.
The Digital Live Show will further amplify the 2018 telecast and highlight Stand Up To Cancer’s 10 years of impact, underscoring the measurable progress the organization has made in cancer research during its first decade. Leveraging the star-studded and inspirational atmosphere of the telecast, The Digital Live Show aims to rally the next generation of supporters around themes of hope, courage and strength. With the inspiring message that it is #Up2Us to Stand Up To Cancer, this far-reaching digital effort aspires to continue pushing innovation forward in life-saving cancer research and treatments. The Digital Live Show is being produced by Telescope, a specialist in live content creation and audience engagement technology for new digital platforms.
“We want everyone to be part of Stand Up’s effort to end cancer as we know it,” said SU2C Co-Founder Katie Couric. “And this year, we’re expanding Stand Up To Cancer’s reach with our first-ever digital live show. We’re enlisting users of popular social media platforms—Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube—for a conversation about something that, in one way or another, touches everyone. Every day, doctors and researchers are getting closer to beating this insidious disease, but they can’t do it alone. They need help from all of us, and we can start by connecting through the SU2C Digital Live Show. When we all stand together, cancer doesn’t stand a chance.”
The hour-long Digital Live Show will feature cancer survivors, influencers and celebrities, and offer viewers exclusive access to the SU2C red carpet and backstage in advance of the televised “roadblock” special. The Digital Live Show will stream live simultaneously across SU2C’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages, with complementary content and live stories posting on Instagram. The world’s leading social platforms join the more than 65 broadcast and cable networks and streaming platforms across US and Canada that will present the live telecast.
“Stand Up To Cancer is built on the belief that collaboration among teams of researchers is the most effective approach in the fight against cancer,” said SU2C Co-Founder Sue Schwartz. “Collaboration is also a great way to build grassroots support, which is why we are so grateful to partner with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, as well as iHeartMedia, to raise awareness and funds in connection with our 2018 telecast. Our theme this year focuses on the incredible progress we’ve made over the past decade and celebrates the innovative treatments that are saving lives now. With the help of these powerful platforms, we are excited to rally a worldwide audience and give new hope to millions of cancer patients.”
This year commemorates Stand Up To Cancer’s ten years of making an impact in catalyzing groundbreaking research to fight the disease. SU2C’s collaborative research model emphasizes teamwork and data sharing among the world’s foremost doctors and scientists, and has contributed to FDA approval of five new cancer therapies. In the past decade, more than 1,500 SU2C-funded researchers from over 180 institutions have conducted over 180 clinical trials involving more than 12,000 patients.
“One of the most exciting and revolutionary things SU2C has done over the past decade is to creatively harness the power of media and celebrity to enlist the public in the fight against cancer,” said SU2C Co-Founder Ellen Ziffren. “Today, we take it a step further with this one-of-a-kind streaming event, which extends the power and reach of our telecasts to encourage important conversations around cancer prevention, treatment, and research for the expanding digital audience.”
Following the digital show, the live telecast will air simultaneously across more than 65 broadcast and cable networks and streaming platforms in the US and Canada including: ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, along with American Heroes Channel, AT&T AUDIENCE Network, Bloomberg TV, Bravo,Destination America, Discovery Family, Discovery Life, E!, EPIX, Escape, ESPNEWS, FM, Freeform, FS2,FXM, FYI, Galavision, Great American Country, HBO, HBO Latino, ION Television, Jewish Life TV, Laff,Logo, MTV2, Nat Geo WILD, REELZ, SHOWTIME, Smithsonian Channel, STARZ, STARZ ENCORE, STARZ ENCORE ESPAÑOL, TNT, Univision Puerto Rico, and WGN America, which are donating one hour of simultaneous commercial-free primetime for the telecast, with additional networks to be announced. In addition, the show will stream live on SU2C’s Facebook and YouTube pages. Following the live broadcast, the telecast will be available to stream via ComedyCentral.com and the Comedy Central app, as well as its VOD partners. Aspire TV will air the Stand Up To Cancer telecast on Saturday, Sept. 8, at 8:00 AM- 9:00 AM ET/PT / 10:00 AM CT. The entire telecast will also stream live on SU2C’s Facebookpage and PeopleTV, as well as stream live and on-demand on Hulu and SU2C’s YouTube page.
For the third time, Stand Up To Cancer Canada will simultaneously broadcast a Canada-inclusive telecast across four major English-language Canadian broadcasters: CBC, Citytv, CTV, and Global, as well as Canadian services AMI, A.Side, BBC Earth, CHCH, CHEK, Cottage Life, Fight Network, Game TV, HIFI, Hollywood Suite, Love Nature, Makeful, NTV, OUTtv, Smithsonian Channel Canada, T+E, and YES TV. In addition, the show will stream live on the CBC TV App, cbc.ca/watch, CBS All Access, CTV GO and CTV.ca, Global GO and GlobalTV.com, and will be available on-demand on TELUS Optik TV in Canada.
As SU2C’s founding donor, Major League Baseball has continued to annually provide both financial support and countless opportunities to build the Stand Up To Cancer movement by encouraging fans worldwide to get involved, most notably through its two largest global events – the MLB All-Star Game and the World Series. In addition to MLB, SU2C’s “Luminary” donors include Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, and Mastercard. “Visionary” donors include CVS Health, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, and the Sidney Kimmel Foundation.
Additional major donors and collaborators include American Airlines, Merck, Rally Health, Inc., St. Baldrick’s Foundation, and Van Andel Research Institute. Other key supporters and collaborators include American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Farrah Fawcett Foundation, Laura Ziskin Family Trust, LUNGevity Foundation, National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer and international collaborator Cancer Research UK.
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are actively collaborating with SU2C Canada. CCS is also a collaborator in the inaugural Stand Up To Cancer Canada–Canadian Cancer Society Breast Cancer Dream Team, along with the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). Collaborators in the inaugural Stand Up To Cancer Canada Cancer Stem Cell Dream Team include CIHR, Cancer Stem Cell Consortium, Genome Canada and OICR. AstraZeneca Canada and Mastercard are the first corporate supporters of SU2C Canada.
About Stand Up To Cancer
STAND UP TO CANCER (SU2C) raises funds to accelerate the pace of research to get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now. A division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), SU2C was established in 2008 by media and entertainment leaders who utilize these communities’ resources to engage the public in supporting a new, collaborative model of cancer research, to increase awareness about cancer prevention, and to highlight progress being made in the fight against the disease. As of April 2018, more than 1,500 scientists representing more than 180 institutions are involved in SU2C-funded research projects.
Under the direction of our Scientific Advisory Committee, led by Nobel laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., staff at SU2C and our Scientific Partner, the American Association for Cancer Research, SU2C operates rigorous competitive review processes to identify the best research proposals to recommend for funding, oversee grants administration, and ensure collaboration across research programs.
Current members of the SU2C Council of Founders and Advisors (CFA) include Katie Couric, Sherry Lansing, Kathleen Lobb, Lisa Paulsen, Rusty Robertson, Sue Schwartz, Pamela Oas Williams, and Ellen Ziffren. The late Laura Ziskin and the late Noreen Fraser are also co-founders. Sung Poblete, Ph.D., R.N., serves as SU2C’s president and CEO.
For more information on Stand Up To Cancer, visit www.StandUpToCancer.org.