Eva Longoria Among Celebrities & Entertainment Figures Encouraging World Leaders to “End the COVID-19 Pandemic Now”

Eva Longoria is urging on world leaders to take action to end the ongoing coronavirus pandemic…

Tuesday morning, just before President Joe Biden addressed the United Nations for the first time, more than 80 celebrities and entertainment figures, including the 46-year-old Mexican American actress, producer and activist, issued an open letter to world leaders calling for them to end “the COVID-19 pandemic now.”

Eva Longoria

The letter, which mentioned the United Nations General Assembly Session specifically, was posted on the website of CARE, an organization dedicated to ending poverty worldwide.

It was signed by a raft of boldfaced names including Longoria, Debra MessingAlyssa Milano, Anne Hathaway, Malin Akerman, Debbie Allen, Jordana Brewster, Connie Britton, Ciara, Peter Dinklage, Richard Gere, Dolores Huerta, Joel McHale, Iman, Edward James Olmos, Laura Linney, Julianna Margulies, Joel McHale, Idina Menzel, Ana Ortiz, Adam Shankman, Michael Sheen, Adam Shulman and Sarah Silverman.

Specifically, the letter calls COVID-19 “a manmade pandemic of apathy.” It states that “Only 2% of people in low-income countries have received a single dose.” The signatories call on “global leaders to make 7 billion vaccine doses available before the end of 2021, and an additional 7 billion doses by mid-2022 to fully vaccinate 70% of the world by next summer.”

Those are lofty goals given the world’s most highly vaccinated countries, like the U.S., remain well under 70%.

It also asks leaders to “invest in last-mile delivery systems, public education, and frontline healthcare workers to get vaccines from tarmacs into arms.”

Here’s the full letter:

An open letter to world leaders on ending the COVID-19 pandemic now.

None of us are safe until all of us are safe.

We call on leaders gathering at the United Nations General Assembly Session to boldly act
together to end COVID-19 everywhere.

COVID-19 is now a manmade pandemic of apathy. Only 2% of people in low-income countries have received a single dose, leaving the world’s most vulnerable to face COVID with no
protection. This situation also lets new variants, like Delta, emerge and ravage the lives of
millions.

We are joining with CARE to call on global leaders to make 7 billion vaccine doses available before the end of 2021, and an additional 7 billion doses by mid-2022 to fully vaccinate 70%
of the world by next summer.

To get this done the world community must also invest in last-mile delivery systems, public education, and frontline healthcare workers to get vaccines from tarmacs into arms. Millions
of doses could go to waste because low-income countries don’t have the support they
need to get vaccines to vulnerable people.

We can save millions of lives — and trillions in further economic damage — by meeting this moment with the resources and political will needed to end COVID-19 for everyone,
everywhere. Because none of us are safe until all of us are safe.

Malin Akerman
Debbie Allen
Dorothy Amuah
Morena Baccarin
Adriana Barraza
Troian Bellisario
Bobby Berk
Jordana Brewster
Connie Britton
Karamo Brown
Gloria Calderón Kellett
Ciara
Tena Clark
Kim Coates
Madison Cowan
Alexandra Daddario
Peter Dinklage
Melinda Doolittle
Tan France
Richard Gere
Duff Goldman
Tony Goldwyn
Fiona Gubelmann
Anne Hathaway
Ingrid Hoffmann
Anders Holm
Dolores Huerta
Osas Ighodaro
Joel McHale
Iman
Edward James Olmos
Sonam Kapoor Ahuja
Ellie Krieger
Iskra Lawrence
Annie Lennox
Lola Lennox
Esther Lewis
Laura Linney
Kimberly Locke
Eva Longoria
Anja Manuel
Julianna Margulies
Catherine McCord
Joel McHale
Spike Mendelsohn
Idina Menzel
Debra Messing
Alyssa Milano
Sepideh Moafi
Tamera Mowry-Housley
Yvette Nicole Brown
Christina Ochoa
Ana Ortiz
Helen Pankhurst
Jessica Pimentel
Julie Plec
Adina Porter
Zac Posen
Leven Rambin
April Reign
Holland Roden
Sheila Shah
Adam Shankman
Omar Sharif Jr.
Michael Sheen
Adam Shulman
Sarah Silverman
Hannah Skvarla
Todd Snyder
Kimberly Steward
Curtis Stone
Christy Turlington Burns
Laura Vandervoort
Gabby Williams
Michelle Williams
Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Russell Wilson
Scott Wolf
Kelley Wolf
Bellamy Young
Rachel Zoe

Ted Cruz to Meet with Alyssa Milano to Discuss Gun Reform

Ted Cruz is ready to talk gun laws…

The 48-year-old half-Cuban Texas GOP Senator is set to meet with actress and activist Alyssa Milano on Tuesday to talk about gun reform, after they had a set of exchanges on Twitter over what’s needed to be done in the aftermath of mass shootings in Odessa and El Paso.

Ted Cruz

The details of the meeting haven’t been announced, but Milano will be in Washington next week.

“We don’t agree on this issue. But if we can talk with mutual respect & humility, maybe all of us come together to effect positive change,” she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.

Cruz wrote that he was “looking forward” to the meeting, and added that “if all of us can together have more positive, civil discussion & debate on the substantive issues of the day, that would go a long way to helping unite and heal our divided Nation.”

Milano had originally proposed the meeting be live-streamed “so the American people can hear your bullshit 1st hand.” On Tuesday, Cruz responded by saying he would agree to a meeting “about uniting to stop gun violence & about theConstitution.”

Over the weekend, following a mass shooting in Odessa that killed seven people and injured 22, Milano criticized a Texas Republican lawmaker, Matt Schaefer, who said that gun control solutions would not stop a person “with evil intent.”

Milano wrote, “Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun? This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby.”

Cruz then responded that “it is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-given but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right is the right to DEFEND your life & your family.”

When the U.S. Senatereturns to session next week, Democrats are expected to press Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring legislation to the floor to expand background checks. In the aftermath of the El Paso and Dayton, Ohio mass shootings, President Donald Trumpinitially indicated that he favored such a proposal, but he has appeared to back away from that stance, following a reported conversation with a top National Rifle Association official.

Mathew Littman, the president of the group 97% Gun Reform, said that the meeting between Cruz and Milano “are the kinds of things that should be happening more often. We shouldn’t be talking past each other. We should be talking to each other.”

He credited Milano and Cruz for agreeing to the meeting, adding “that they are willing to talk to someone who completely disagrees with them is what we should be doing.”

Littman said he has met with Milano to talk about gun reform, and said that she “is about the smartest person I have talked to on the gun issue.” “I really appreciate that Alyssa is willing to do this, but that is what Alyssa does.”

Spokespersons for Cruz and Milano didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on further details of the meeting.

Alba to Serve as a Guest Judge on Logo TV’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

Life’s a drag for Jessica Alba

The 33-year-old half-Mexican American actress will serve as a celebrity guest judge on the seventh season of Logo TV’s hit reality television competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Jessica Alba

RuPaul plays the roles of host, mentor, and source of inspiration for the series, which details RuPaul’s search for “America’s next drag superstar.”

Alba has previously served as a guest judge on Cupcake Wars and Project Runway.

In addition to Alba, this season’s celebrity guest judges include Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, John Waters, Kathy Griffin, Olivia Newton-John, Alyssa Milano, Kat Dennings, Jordin Sparks, Mel B, Tamar Braxton, Rebecca Romijn, Santino Rice, Isaac Mizrahi, Michael Urie, Rachael Harris, Lucian Piane and Merle Ginsberg.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is also adding two new permanent judges to the mix. Carson Kressley (Queer Eye For The Straight Guy) and Ross Mathews (Chelsea Lately) will join returning judge Michelle Visage as they decide who will stay, lip-synch for their life or “Sashay Away.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race is slated to premiere at 9:00 pm ET on March 2 on Logo TV.