When details of The Activist were first announced on September 10, it felt a little like the reality show equivalent of that notorious video where Gal Gadot and her famous friends all sung “imagine” into their front-facing cameras. Well-intentioned? Perhaps, but also rather tone deaf, and proof of the clear disconnect between Hollywood and average folks.
Originally conceived as a “competition series” hosted by Usher, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Julianne Hough, The Activist would pit humanitarians working in the fields of “health, education, and environment” in various challenges, with the ultimate goal of making it to the G20 Summit where they could pitch their ideas in front of the gathering’s influential crowd.
By now you can probably see what the problem was: The concept of making activists face off against one another does seem to cheapen the whole endeavor.
“That Activist reality show is so fucking dystopian it’s truly amazing. What are they even gonna do? say ‘Sorry, your anti-genocide cause got booted off the show because you didn’t get enough likes?’” as one Twitter user wrote.
Comedian and writer for The Simpsons Broti Gupta created a double helix of game show catastrophe by joking that ousted Jeopardy! Host Mike Richards should run the show. Jameela Jamil pointed out that money going to the gaudy cast could probably be better used by the actual causes the show intends to highlight.
And in this case, the swift and near-unilateral backlash worked, as CBS announced on September 15 that it would be revamping the series, per reporting from Variety. No longer a competition show, The Activist will now be a single documentary special.
“The Activist was designed to show a wide audience the passion, long hours, and ingenuity that activists put into changing the world, hopefully inspiring others to do the same,” CBS and its partners Global Citizen and Live Nation said in a statement. “However, 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 push for global change is not a competition and requires a global effort.”
According to the program’s creators, each of the involved activists will be receiving a “cash grant for the organization of their choice, as was planned for the original show.”
The announcement of the hosts seemed to be key to the backlash, since, as Variety noted, the broad concept of the show was made public in May to minimal reaction. Twitter users dug up various perceived transgressions from the hosts’ pasts in order to criticize their participation. People also took exception to some of the chosen activists who were deemed too well established to need the exposure.
In fact, reality shows centered around philanthropic endeavors are nothing new. In 2008, ABC aired Oprah’s Big Give (a.k.a. The Big Give), in which the multimedia mogul awarded the winner $500,000 for personal use and another $500,000 to give away (it also faced significant flack, and was not renewed for a second season). The NBC series GIVE featured Blair Underwood and Jenna Bush Hager, alongside other celebrities, visiting charities and providing them with both monetary aid and increased visibility.
As of now, it’s unclear how the three controversial celebrities will be involved in the new iteration of The Activist, but it seems inevitable someone’s foot will end up in their mouth once more before the documentary airs. Julianne Hough—the only of the three hosts to make a public statement, at press time—has a point, though: this would really make for a great episode of Black Mirror.