Mark Ruffalo, Alyssa Milano plan event to counter Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address

In this Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011 file photo, actor Mark Ruffalo, center, speaks to demonstrators at the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park before participating in an anti Hydraulic fracturing march in New York. Image: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Ruffalo, Lee Daniels, Michael Moore and Whoopi Goldberg are among celebrities who plan to attend an evening of speeches and music at “The People’s State of the Union,” billed as a “public alternative” to President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address.

The event is planned for Monday, the day before Trump’s speech, at The Town Hall, a historic venue in Manhattan founded as a meeting spot for suffragists more than 90 years ago.

Among those slated to perform are Andra Day and Common, who will sing their Grammy- and Oscar-nominated song “Stand Up for Something” from the film “Marshall.”

Ruffalo, a vocal progressive, said the evening will be an “inspirational event where activists and influencers join together to articulate a positive vision for our future, and how we’re going to win our country back.”

Host organizations include unions, organizers of the Women’s March and Planned Parenthood. The event will be livestreamed at peoplessotu.org.

Online, Alyssa Milano on Tuesday will launch an initiative, #StateOfTheDream, to support immigrants and raise money for United We Dream, an immigrant youth-led organization.

In a statement, Milano called for social media users to create brief videos describing “your dream for America” and post them at the same time, 9 p.m. EST, with the effort’s hashtag. She urged on Twitter: “Please join us! Resist and persist with digital counter-programming to Trump’s #SOTU” NVG

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