Taraji P. Henson & More Set for All-New Christmas Specials on FOX, 12/14

FOX gets festive with a night of holiday programming Thursday, Dec. 14, featuring the return of TARAJI'S WHITE HOT HOLIDAYS and a brand-new, holiday-themed Showtime AT THE APOLLO: CHRISTMAS.

The night kicks off with EMPIRE's Taraji P. Henson returning to host TARAJI'S WHITE HOT HOLIDAYS (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The special will feature renditions of holiday classics performed by artists including Chaka Khan, Ciara, Faith Evans, Fergie, Jussie Smollett, Leslie Odom Jr., Salt-N-Pepa and the Ying Yang Twins. The holiday extravaganza will also feature appearances by DJ Khaled, Taye Diggs, Jay Pharoah, Method Man, Tituss Burgess and Niecy Nash, among other surprise guests and performances.

Following TARAJI'S WHITE HOT HOLIDAYS, the celebration will continue with Showtime AT THE APOLLO: CHRISTMAS (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), hosted by Steve Harvey. Featured in the episode will be some of the nation's top musical acts offering renditions of their favorite Christmas songs, including performances by Snoop Dogg & Boyz II Men, Fifth Harmony and DMX. Along with the well-known acts, the show will showcase Apollo's legendary long-running, live talent competition - which provides a platform for up-and-coming artists to perform in front of the toughest audience in the world. The Apollo audience is famed as one of entertainment's most boisterous and brutally honest and those contestants who don't win over the crowd risk being booed off the stage. Additionally, actress, recording artist and TV personality Adrienne Houghton ("The Real") will co-host the all-new holiday-themed episode.

TARAJI'S WHITE HOT HOLIDAYS is produced by Casey Patterson Entertainment, Taraji P. Henson, Jane Mun, Greg Sills and Vincent Cirrincione.

SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO is executive-produced by Jim Roush and Chris Wagner for the Roush-Wagner Company. Reginald Hudlin and James McKinlay also are executive producers and serve as showrunners. Don Weiner is an executive producer and directing the series. Jonelle Procope serves as an executive producer for the Apollo Theater and Michael Antinoro serves as an executive producer for IMG.

About Casey Patterson Entertainment: Casey Patterson Entertainment is a full-service production company producing premium content, live events and talent-driven series and specials, with offices in New York City and Los Angeles. Casey Patterson is an Emmy®-nominated, critically acclaimed executive producer who has created an array of groundbreaking programming during her 20-year tenure at Viacom. Patterson's current projects include the breakout hit series "Lip Sync Battle," the highest-rated series in Spike history; the newly revamped "2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards"; Spike's "One Night Only: Alec Baldwin"; "Rock the Troops," with Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions; Nickelodeon's "Lip Sync Battle: Shorties"; TARAJI'S WHITE HOT HOLIDAYS; and "Guys Choice." Additional credits include such high-profile events as the "2016 MTV Movie Awards," "The Concert for New York City," "The Concert of the Century at the White House," "Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary Special," "The Comedy Awards," "Between Two Ferns - A Fairy Tale of New York," "The Video Game Awards," "SCREAM Awards," "GQ Men of the Year Awards," VH1's "Vogue Fashion Awards," VH1's "Divas Live," FOX's "Billboard Music Awards" and NBC's "Concert for America."

About The Apollo Theater: The legendary Apollo Theater - the soul of American culture - plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York and the world. With music at its core, the Apollo's programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word and more. This includes "100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella" blockbuster concert, the annual AFRICA Now! Festival and the recent New York premiere of the opera "Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD." The Apollo is a performing arts presenting organization that also produces festivals and large-scale dance and music works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend the Apollo's legacy through a contemporary lens; global festivals including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival and Breakin' Convention, international and U.S.-based artist presentations focused on a specific theme; and Special Projects, multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations. Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms, and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres - including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo are D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Machine Gun Kelly, Miri Ben Ari, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Gladys Knight, LUTHER Vandross, and Stevie Wonder; and the Apollo's forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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