Lakers' LeBron James to Help Honor High School Class of 2020 with TV Special

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused schools to move to remote learning and cancel graduations across the United States, which has seen over 983,400 confirmed positive cases and over 50,400 deaths due to the virus, per the World Health Organization on April 29.  

In response to COVID-19, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James will be honoring the high school class of 2020 as part of a one-hour special called Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020, which will air on NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox on Saturday, May 16 at 8 p.m. ET.

Per Mesfin Fekadu of ABC News (h/t Associated Press), the LeBron James Family Foundation, XQ Institute and The Entertainment Industry Foundation made the joint announcement on Wednesday regarding the special.

James also tweeted the following:

According to Fekadu, "The event will pay tribute to high schoolers graduating this year and will include appearances by James, Pharrell Williams, Malala Yousafzai, the Jonas Brothers, Bad Bunny, Yara Shahidi, Ben Platt, Lena Waithe and H.E.R."

It will also include United States women's soccer team captain Megan Rapinoe, who won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball during her side's 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup-winning campaign.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin provided more information on the special: "James' SpringHill Productions will run the show, which will be filled with commencement addresses, celebrity cameos and video vignettes honoring the estimated 3 million high school seniors whose graduation experience is being impacted by the COVID-19 crisis."

James is a 2003 graduate of St. Vincent-St. Mary's High School in Akron, Ohio. In 2018, the LeBron James Family Foundation and Akron Public Schools opened the I Promise School in Akron, designed to serve at-risk children in the local area from grades one through eight.