Inauguration TV special to feature Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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President-elect Joe Biden’s inaugural committee announced on Sunday that celebrities including Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will make appearances on a primetime TV special planned for Inauguration Day.

The committee said Miranda will “recite a classic work during the program.”

Newly announced participants also include philanthropist and José Andrés and Kim Ng, the first female Major League Baseball general manager. Other well-known performers who are expected to appear are musicians Bruce Springsteen, John Legend and the Foo Fighters.

The special, titled “Celebrating America,” is set to air on all major cable and news channel as well as Biden’s inauguration website beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Previously announced performers include Justin Timberlake, Tom Hanks and Demi Lovato.

Inauguration events will be significantly more subdued than in previous years due to the pandemic as well as heightened security in response to the violent Capitol breach earlier this month. The inaugural ball that normally takes place will not take place, for example.

It was also reported last week that planned rehearsals for the inauguration had been postponed due to security concerns. A seven-foot tall fence now surrounds the Capitol and tens of thousands of National Guard members have been deployed to secure the building.

Biden’s communication director, Kate Bedingfield, on Sunday said that she was certain the inauguration would take place outdoors on Wednesday despite safety concerns.

“I think that will send an incredibly important visual image to the world about the resilience of American democracy,” said Bedingfield on ABC’s “This Week.”

Biden has also chosen 22-year-old Amanda Gorman as the youngest inaugural poet in history. She was also the first National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017.

Tags Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics Inauguration of Joe Biden Joe Biden Joe Biden Kamala Harris Kate Bedingfield Presidency of Joe Biden Yahoo!

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