COVID-19: 'Friends' cast offers reunion taping tickets for charity

Los Angeles: “Friends” stars are giving an opportunity to fans to join them for the taping of their much-awaited reunion special in exchange to raise money for coronavirus relief efforts.

The cast — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — will give out six tickets to the taping of their forthcoming HBO Max reunion special to generate donations for the ‘All in Challenge’.

The actors will also give away a cup of coffee at the sitcom’s fictitious yet iconic ‘Central Perk’ as part of the Warner Bros Studio Tour.

“Hey, it’s us your FRIENDS. And We Are All In! Some of you may have heard about a reunion special that we are doing for HBO Max? Well WE want YOU and five of YOUR Friends to join the 6 of us on Stage 24.

“Be our personal guests in the audience for the taping where you’ll get to see us all together again for the first time in ages, as we reminisce about the show and celebrate all of the fun we had. PLUS, sip a cup of coffee with us in Central Perk, and get the ‘Friends VIP’ experience on the Warner Bros Studio Tour,” the cast shared on their respective Instagram accounts on Tuesday.

Under the challenge, funds raised from the various auctions benefit organisations including America’s Food Fund, which was launched by Leonardo DiCaprio, Laurene Powell Jobs and Apple, with support from the Ford Foundation.

The group was created to ensure all people have reliable access to food amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Other Hollywood names also participating in this initiative include Madonna, Russell Wilson and Ciara, Justin Bieber, DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

The announcement from “Friends” cast came hours after WarnerMedia set the launch date of HBO Max as May 27.

The unscripted “Friends” reunion was among the productions that were forced to suspend work amid the near industry-wide shutdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak.