Maria Menounos, host of the TV entertainment show “Extra,” will be the grand marshal of LA Pride 2013, according to an announcement made by event organizers Friday.
The Pride Parade will be held Sunday, June 9, starting at 11 a.m. along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.
“The LGBT Pride Parade represents something truly American. It’s the celebration of community, a celebration of uniqueness, diversity and progress, and it’s the celebration of a new United States where we do more than ‘tolerate’ or ‘accept’ our gay brothers and sisters, but embrace and celebrate them” said Menounos.
Christopher Street West, the organization behind the event, chose Menounos “for her dedication to the LGBT community and her continuing efforts in using her platform for equality.”
Since joining “Extra” in 2011, Menounos has covered entertainment news, including celebrity news, red-carpet events, movie premieres and fashion.
At age 22, she became the youngest person to host “Entertainment Tonight” and was also the youngest to ever host the “Today Show” and report for NBC Nightly News. She also has been a special correspondent for “Access Hollywood” and has acted in a number of TV shows, including CBS’ “Without a Trace” and The CW’s “One Tree Hill.”
As far as activism, Menounos founded the charity Take Action Hollywood! after reporting on the AIDS crisis in South Africa. According to the charity’s site, it “utilizes the power of Hollywood and the medium of film to educate and to improve human conditions locally, nationally and even worldwide.”
Her selection as Grand Marshall is just disappointing and it’s hard to believe that CSW couldn’t find someone relevant and fun especially since PRIDE attracts close to 500,000 people. I read the Press Release, Googled her and looked at her unimpressive IMDb and I still have no ideas who she is. It is truly a letdown and perhaps the Board of CSW should consider making some staff changes.
So why her? Is she a lesbian, is she involved in our community, does she work toward our community’s betterment? All I can gather from the article above and her bio on extratv.com is that she once reported on the AIDS crisis in South Africa. CSW’s announcement about her selection is filled with much more community-friendly words of connection and concern but offers no specifics. Has CSW’s Board just selected another recently noteworthy person-of-the-moment that can gather them some press and notoriety while ignoring the many truly deserving members and defenders of our community that are out there? IS THIS… Read more »
Thanks! We’ve corrected
The “Take Action Hollywood!” charity funds documentaries/movies, and the ones they’ve done are not about the gay community or AIDS. (One about Lebron James, and another about seniors, So she might have done a story about AIDS in South Africa, that’s the extent of her activism.
Help me understand why she’s a worthy choice to be the Grand Marshal.
It is Access Hollywood, not Assess Hollywood.