YouTube has unveiled the full celebrity lineup for Dear Class of 2020, an original production intended to serve as a commencement ceremony for all the high school and college students who–thanks to COVID-19–can’t attend in-person events this year.
The platform has also chosen to bump its virtual ceremony back a day, from Saturday, June 6, to Sunday, June 7, in honor of the private family memorial being held Saturday for George Floyd.
Newly announced guests include high-profile figures like Liza Koshy, Shonda Rimes, Jack Black, Tom Hanks, Seth Rogen, John Mulaney, Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart (speaking together), and Billie Eilish.
They join dozens of previously revealed YouTubers, performers, public figures, and executives, including an impressive rota of commencement speakers: Barack and Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, K-pop group BTS, Lady Gaga, former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and Malala Yousafzai.
YouTube also announced several collaborative performances that’ll take place over the course of the event: a rendition of Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” by Tracee Ellis Ross, Yara Shahidi, Kelly Rowland, Shonda Rhimes, Misty Copeland, and Janelle Monáe; a musical tribute to teachers featuring the entire core cast of Schitt’s Creek; and Leon Bridges, Camila Cabello, Noah Cyrus, Cynthia Erivo, Khalid, Tove Lo, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Ben Platt, and Ty Dolla $ign singing U2’s “Beautiful Day.”
Additionally, the Diamond Bar High School Marching Band, the AMDA College of the Performing Arts, and the Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts will perform Shawn Mendes’ “Nothing Holding Me Back”–with Mendes (another newly revealed guest) himself.
Alongside celebrities, Dear Class of 2020 will feature a group of 25 students from across the country who will deliver a joint speech to their fellow honorees. And, at the end of it all, Katy Perry will lead graduates in the traditional tassel-turn that’ll send them on to their next adventures.
The special “was filmed over the course of the last several weeks and will center around the timely themes of hope, resilience, and camaraderie,” YouTube said.
The first hour of Dear Class of 2020 will be hosted by Michelle Obama’s postsecondary education initiative, Reach Higher, as part of a new partnership between it and YouTube. Together, they have launched “a new fund that provides support to thousands of underrepresented and at-risk youth” by distributing money to Beyond12 and Scholarship America, per YouTube. Course Hero, Box Tops for Education, McDonald’s, and Strada Education Network have already contributed to the fund, it said.
Dear Class of 2020 will stream June 7 from the YouTube Originals channel and from the Learn@Home hub.
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