Nickelodeon Brings Back 'Nick News' for Special on Race Featuring Black Lives Matter Co-Founders
Over the course of the last several weeks, Americans have seen the Black Lives Matter movement spread across the country almost as quickly as the pandemic did.
There have been endless reports of violent protests, destruction of historic statues and talk of defunding the police.
Aside from these violent acts, the BLM movement will now be introducing its values to a younger, more impressionable generation.
Nickelodeon will be reviving its famous “Nick News” that ran from 1992 to 2015 for an hour-long special on June 29 to discuss race with singer/songwriter Alicia Keys.
Join @aliciakeys for Kids, Race & Unity: A #NickNews special, premiering next Monday at 7/6c pic.twitter.com/lCvaJBOn6T
— Nickelodeon (@Nickelodeon) June 23, 2020
According to Nickelodeon’s media release, Keys will be hosting different guests involved in the Black Lives Matter movement on the show to answer questions from kids across the nation.
Some of the special guests include BLM co-founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi as well as the Nashville, Tennessee, teens who founded Teens4Equality and several others.
“Kids, Race and Unity: A Nick News Special” will give kids and their families resources to help them have “constructive conversations about race and inclusivity.”
“I’ve had a vision of a forum that can engage kids during this time and help to focus our attention on how they might be feeling, and this Nick News special is it!” Keys said in a statement for the release.
“Talking about race can be sensitive and uncomfortable; and sometimes we try to protect our children from racism they are already experiencing.”
The reboot of the children’s news show in order to promote Black Lives Matter isn’t the first time that Nickelodeon has joined in on politically charged topics and introduced them to their young audience.
In March, the network tweeted its support of an unofficial holiday called the International Transgender Day of Visibility.
Today is International #TransDayOfVisibility ? We’re celebrating transgender people around the world and the courage it takes to live their truth #TDOV pic.twitter.com/u4gZsThwlB
— Nickelodeon (@Nickelodeon) March 31, 2020
To further solidify its support of the LGBTQ community, earlier this month Nickelodeon posted a tweet honoring Pride Month that included a picture of the iconic cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. The tweet did not confirm the character’s sexuality but left it up for speculation.
“Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month,” the network tweeted.
Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month ?
(?: by @ramzymasri) pic.twitter.com/pENmTaQB0h— Nickelodeon (@Nickelodeon) June 13, 2020
The reboot of the Nick News special is the beginning of a series that will continue over the next several months and will be broadcast on Nickelodeon, TeenNick and Nicktoons on June 29 at 7 p.m. EDT and PDT.
It will later be available for viewing on the Nickelodeon YouTube channel, Nick On Demand, the Nick App and the Nick Pluto television channel.
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