After a deluge of quite justified criticism, calling to task, and general blowback from its initial announcement, The Activist has been scrapped in concept and re-imagined to a completely new format at CBS.
The show was originally intended to be a five-week reality competition show that would see six social activists pitted against each other to garner social media attention to their individual causes of interest, judged by Usher, Julianne Hough, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
After weeks of media and social media trashing dubbing the show performative activism, calling it out for trivializing the causes which it’s supposed to be championing for popularity, and just an all-around bad idea, CBS has gone back to the drawing board.
In a joint statement between CBS, Live Nation, and Global Citizen, it’s been announced that show has now been reconceptualized to a documentary series, to instead highlight the selected activists and their causes without the element of competition.
“It has become apparent the format of the show as announced distracts from the vital work these incredible activists do in their communities every day,” the statement read. “The push for global change is not a competition and requires a global effort.”
The launch of the show has also been pushed from its original scheduled air date of October 22 to an as yet undetermined premiere as tonal changes are established.
“As a result, we are changing the format to remove the competitive element and reimagining the concept into a primetime documentary special (air date to be announced). It will showcase the tireless work of six activists and the impact they have advocating for causes they deeply believe in. Each activist will be awarded a cash grant for the organization of their choice, as was planned for the original show.”
