As cable news and broadcast outlets continue wall-to-wall coverage of the Thursday shooting in Dallas, Texas, MTV News and BET News announced a co-hosted live town hall set for Friday night.
What Now? will air live across 10 Viacom networks, starting at 10 p.m. ET. On hand for the Times Square Studio telecast will be network talent Charlamagne Tha God, Jamil Smith, Marc Lamont Hill and Franchesca Ramsey.
A Friday release said the event was intended to be “an open forum of artists, activists and audience members discussing the issues underlying this latest round in a cycle of violence and tragedy in America.”
The town hall, also set to stream on YouTube and Facebook Live, comes on the heels of a devastating week in the United States — which saw the killings of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, at the hands of police officers and culminated in a deadly sniper attack during a peaceful protest in Dallas. The latter has already claimed the lives of five police officers.
MTV and BET are trying to engage viewers by soliciting call-ins and the use of the hashtag #WhatNow.
