It may be Kanye West who has all the presidential aspirations, but it’s his wife Kim Kardashian who is using her celebrity to get involved in some of the biggest issues of today, from criminal justice reform to coronavirus health initiatives. In a new interview with CNN, Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed that in April the reality star was responsible for facilitating a private Zoom conversation about the pandemic between himself and thirty-six other celebrities, musicians, and athletes, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, 2 Chainz, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN, “It was a whole bunch of movie stars and some sports figures and they wanted to know about what they could do to stay safe, about wearing masks and avoiding crowds. I was impressed by the questions they asked, by their level of sophistication.” He added that the call was important because “Each of them has enormous numbers of followers on their social media accounts. I could say to them, for example, it’s important to wear a mask, and they get on their accounts and say ‘wear a mask’ and it goes out to an additional couple of million people.”
Kim was apparently inspired to organize the call after Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on Good Morning America that “We need to get Kylie Jenner and social media influencers out there, in helping folks understand that look, this is serious, this is absolutely serious. People are dying.” A source told the outlet, “She wanted to speak with someone, to ask questions, so she could spread accurate information because there were so many inaccuracies those first few months.”
One particular question that stood out to Fauci came from Kunis, who asked whether or not he orders take-out and if he eats it off a plate or straight out of the container. The doctor replied, “Mila, listen, don’t be paranoid!” prompting her husband, Ashton Kutcher, to immediately take out his cell phone and say “That’s it, I’m ordering a pizza—finally!”
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