‘Parks and Recreation’ Stars Reunite for Democratic Fundraiser

Members of the Parks and Recreation cast are reuniting again, this time to help raise funds for the Wisconsin Democratic Party. It is the second time this year members of the cast are getting back together to raise money, following the successful April reunion for Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund. That special included every member of the cast, but the Thursday event is missing some familiar faces.

The Parks and Rec reunion will feature Aubrey Plaza, Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Retta, Jim O’Heir, and show co-creator Michael Schur. According to the event’s website, it will only be live-streamed once at 8 p.m. CT on Thursday, with an exclusive Q&A session following at 8:30 p.m. CT. “Anything you donate will be used to ensure that Trump loses Wisconsin, and thereby the White House,” the website reads. Plaza, who played April on the show, teased “surprise guests” when promoting the project on Instagram.

In late April, the Parks and Rec cast reunited for NBC’s A Parks and Recreation Special, which caught viewers up on how Pawnee, Indiana residents were handling the coronavirus pandemic. The event was packed with celebrity cameos, including appearances from Paul Rudd, Jason Mantzoukas, and Offerman’s real-life wife Megan Mullally. Chris Pratt, who is missing from this week’s reunion, did take part in the NBC reunion. The event raised over $2.8 million and attracted over 3.6 million viewers, reports Variety.

“Donald Trump has grossly mismanaged our nation and neglected his responsibilities as Commander in Chief during a crisis that has cost us nearly 200,000 lives and millions of jobs. And he intentionally lied to the American people about it,” Scott and Plaza said in a statement this week. “We need a leader who takes his job seriously, who actually works for the people he’s elected to serve, and Donald Trump just isn’t up to the job. We couldn’t be more excited to join forces with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to make sure Trump is a one-term president.”

This is the second celebrity-packed event for the Wisconsin Democratic Party. They previously hosted a virtual script reading with the cast of The Princess Bride, with Rob Reiner, Patton Oswalt, Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Carol Kane, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, and Billy Crystal taking part. Officials said the event drew over 110,000 people, who all donated at least $1 to watch. “Tonight’s once-in-a-lifetime Princess Bride reunion changes the odds on who wins Wisconsin,” Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “This is by a mile the biggest grassroots fundraiser that we have ever had.”