Bernadette Peters, Cheyenne Jackson and More to Take Part in GLAAD Spirit Day

Viacom brands MTV, VH1, CMT, BET, Logo, TV Land, TeenNick and Paramount Pictures will join the hosts of Good Morning America, the cast of Days of Our Lives, Dianna Agron, Chaz Bono, Pauly D, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Fran Drescher, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Kimmel, Joel McHale, Reba McEntire, Sir Ian McKellen, Maria Menounos, the New York Stock Exchange, hosts of CNBC, Facebook and millions of Americans in 'going purple' for Spirit Day on October 19 in a stand against bullying and to show their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth, GLAAD announced today. The National Basketball Association (NBA), NASCAR Diversity, Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) will also participate through social media.

For a full list of participants, anti-bullying resource kit for students and parents as well as Spirit Day digital apps visit http://glaad.org/spiritday

Viacom's brands will be participating on-air, online, through social media and employee engagement efforts. MTV, VH1, Logo, TV Land and TeenNick will turn on-air logos purple on Spirit Day; MTV, VH1 and Logo will turn online logos purple as well and support through social media, VH1.com, LogoTV.com and NewNowNext.com, which will be posting feature stories and never-before-seen "It Gets Better" clips. MTV will turn its 44 ½ high-definition screen in Times Square purple for the day. The cast of TeenNick's 'Degrassi' and 'Victorious' star Avan Jogia will be wearing purple and Viacom, BET, CMT and Paramount Pictures will also support the day through social media.

Comcast and NBCUniversal will participate including NBC owned stations, Telemundo network and owned stations. Hosts of "Access Hollywood," CNBC, "Chelsea Lately," and E! News, among others, will wear purple.

The 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign' will be turned purple and several hotels on the Las Vegas strip will light their marquees purple with an anti-bullying message, GLAAD previously announced with R&R Partners Foundation. In addition, the Duke Energy Tower in Charlotte, NC will join the New York Stock Exchange, Thomson Reuters' Times Square screen, the LAX Pylon Lights and JFK traffic tower in lighting up purple for Spirit Day on October 19.

Hosts of 'Good Morning America' will wear purple on the October 19 show. 'Watch What Happens Live' host Andy Cohen will also wear purple for Spirit Day on the October 18 program. Hosts of "Access Hollywood," CNBC, "Chelsea Lately," "E! News," "Extra," "The Talk," "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and "The Wendy Williams Show" will also wear purple on the air for Spirit Day. Host of 'Extra,' Maria Menounos, will join previously announced celebrity participants including Dianna Agron, Perez Hilton, Avan Jogia, Shay Mitchell, Shaquille O'Neal, George Takei and Wendy Williams as a Spirit Day Ambassador.

American Apparel, the vertically integrated clothing manufacturer based in downtown Los Angeles, launched a Spirit Day store featuring the company's purple clothing items. Spirit Day supporters will receive a special 10% discount on the purple items by using the promo code 'SPIRIT' at check out. American Apparel will also donate 10% of all 'purple proceeds' to GLAAD.

Each year GLAAD coordinates hundreds of national and local organizations, schools, celebrities, media, sports leagues, corporations, parishes, faith groups and landmarks. GLAAD is also working with gay teen Katy Butler who is calling for President Obama and Governor Romney to wear purple on Friday. Her Change.org petition has garnered thousands of signatures: http://glaad.org/purple2012. Earlier this year, Katy launched a Change.org petition to call on the MPAA to change the rating of the documentary BULLY.

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