Lady Gaga announces One World: Together at Home benefit concert for COVID-19 relief

Lady Gaga popped in on several late-night talk shows this week to announce the One World: Together at Home benefit concert taking place on April 18.

Since her career in music began, Lady Gaga has been full of surprises — and she certainly surprised viewers by interrupting several late-night talk shows this week. The singer popped up during the live streams for Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel Live to make an important announcement: She’ll be partaking in a broadcast concert to raise COVID-19 relief funds for the World Health Organization.

Dubbed One World: Together at Home, the concert is being hosted by the very people whose shows Gaga interrupted: Fallon, Kimmel, and Colbert. It will feature a lineup of famous musicians, including Billie Eilish, Green Day, Lizzo, and Elton John.

Of course, the fundraising won’t be coming out of viewers’ pockets. The money is being raised prior to the benefit concert, with companies like Apple donating to the cause. Lady Gaga revealed that $35 million had already been accrued at the time of the announcement. So, instead of worrying about how they can contribute, she pushed fans to “just sit back and watch the show,” wallets and credit cards forgotten.

While making her late-night appearances, the pop star emphasized that the concert is intended to “celebrate the courage of the human spirit.”

“That’s what I really want to do,” she added. “I want to show lots of acts of kindness, and I also want to show things that are happening in the world that maybe people don’t know about in ways that we can feel grateful for what we have and we can give more help to other people.”

One World: Together at Home will start at 8 p.m. ET on April 18. The concert will be broadcast on ABC, NBC, and ViacomCBS, but iHeart Media, Bell Media, and BBC One will also broadcast the event on Sunday.

All in all, this is a solid way to keep music fans entertained while fundraising for a good cause. It’s unclear when we’ll be able to attend concerts again, but at least musicians are doing everything they can to bring music to people in the interim.

For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.