This year's high school and college seniors may not be tossing their caps into the air in traditional graduation ceremonies due to the coronavirus outbreak, but they are certainly getting some high-powered commencement speakers.
One day after Oprah Winfrey dubbed this year's graduates "the chosen class" in a star-studded livestreamed event on Facebook and Instagram, former President Barack Obama is set to deliver a pair of virtual commencement speeches Saturday.
Obama's first address is to be delivered to more than 27,000 graduates of the nation's historically black colleges and universities as part of a two-hour event called "Show Me Your Walk H.B.C.U. Edition." Hosted by comedian Kevin Hart and featuring a number of African American luminaries including Common, Steve Harvey, Vivica Fox and Chris Paul, the virtual graduation ceremony was to be streaming live via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Later Saturday, Obama will be the marquee speaker during a virtual graduation ceremony for this year's high school seniors called "Graduate Together: High School Class of 2020 Commencement," which kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern and will air as a prime-time special on the major broadcast networks and cable news channels as well as on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and other digital platforms. The one-hour event, organized by the LeBron James Family Foundation, XQ Institute and the Entertainment Industry Foundation, will feature an array of celebrities including Alicia Keys, the Jonas Brothers, Timothee Chalamet, Kumail Nanjiani and many others.
The speeches mark the first major public addresses by the former president since the outbreak of the coronavirus.
