- Title: Kevin Bacon's lockdown life, as more celebrities back 'IStayHomeFor'
- Date: 23rd March 2020
- Summary: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 23, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, KEVIN BACON, ON THE HASHTAG 'ISTAYHOMEFOR' CHALLENGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA, SAYING: "I think the first time I heard the idea of six degrees of me, I thought, well, this is kind of a joke at my expense, and then I started to sort of accept it because it really wasn't going away. And then when I really started to think about was the fact that you just need to take me out of it. It's really never been about me. It's really, I mean, I'm kind of, I was sort of like a random person that happened to become the object of this game. But when you think about the concept, it's true that we really are connected. And this virus is a very, very obvious and tragic kind of example of that connectivity. But on the other hand, you know, the way that we're going to beat it is by working together. So that I seem like, sort of like and then the, just based on the silliness of the game, it seemed like a natural kind of thing to do to launch this campaign."
- Embargoed: 6th April 2020 21:12
- Keywords: Bebe Rexha Dakota Fanning David Beckham Elle Fanning Ellen DeGeneres Elton John IStayHomeFor Kevin Bacon Mariah Carey Paula Abdul coronavirus hashtag lockdown
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Celebrities,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA009C69WXU5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:STORY: Kevin Bacon might be encouraging people to stay at home on social media with his trending hashtag #IStayHomeFor, but he and his family have found fun cooking together and making music as they find themselves holed in at home in California.
The "Footloose" actor was in the middle of filming the second series of "City on a Hill" in New York when production had to be stopped due to the coronavirus.
Since he has been back at home with his actress wife Kyra Sedgwick and son Travis, Bacon told Reuters in an interview on Monday (March 23) that the biggest challenge so far has been not having physical contact with his daughter Sosie Bacon:
"I've seen my daughter on the street, but we're not actually touching. So that's pretty, you know, it's pretty strange," he said.
Bacon has been putting his newfound spare time to good use posted a video message to his Twitter account on Wednesday (March 18), urging people to "stay home for" loved ones and the vulnerable. He then asked them to post a similar video message or image of them holding a sign with the hashtag #IStayHomeFor and who they are doing the self-isolation for - in his case, actress wife Kyra Sedgwick, and to nominate six others.
Since then stars and people around the world have engaged with the idea, including singer-songwriters Elton John and Mariah Carey, footballer David Beckham and TV host Ellen DeGeneres.
"I'm impressed by all of them. Listen, I'm thrilled that people have jumped on board and have jumped on board also with like very, very heartfelt comments," Bacon told Reuters.
"I also am looking at and am really touched by a lot of the people who aren't celebrities because I can see the hashtag 'IStayHomeFor' and there is a lot of, you know, thousands and thousands. They're all individual stories of doing something for someone that they care about," he added.
Bacon is hopeful that once it's all over, he will be back to work.
"I just love the work, and I'm always extremely grateful that I ever have work and have work at this age and am still able to work as an actor, which is something that I really love to do," he said.
"My hope is that will, you know, eventually get back to some sense of normalcy, and we'll be able to be up and running," he added.
As of Monday, March 23, according to John Hopkins University data, the coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 15,000 worldwide.
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