For the second year in a row, Spectrum Celebrity Events will be hosting a soap opera fan event focused on the LGBTQ+ community. Called "Salem Proud," and featuring stars from Days of our Lives, the event was originally supposed to take place in March, but it has now been pushed back to October 10 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Spectrum's Scott Layne says that he and his husband, Matt, are proud to once again be raising money for important causes through soaps. He says to Digital Journal, "My husband, Matt, and I enjoy going to soap opera fan events. We have been to multiple fan events for soap operas. We noticed that some actors didn't get attention and they weren't featured in some fan events, some that played LGBTQ characters, or actors that had smaller roles that we would love to work with. We thought about doing our own fan events just for fun."
The pair hosted their first event, "Daytime Pride," in 2019. It featured actors who have played LGBTQ+ characters on soap operas, including Freddie Smith (Sonny Kiriakis, DAYS), Greg Rikaart (ex-Leo Stark, DAYS; Kevin Fisher, The Young and the Restless), Camryn Grimes (Mariah Copeland, Y&R), Ryan Carnes (Lucas Jones, General Hospital), Van Hansis (ex-Noah Snyder, As the World Turns), and Jake Silberman (ex-Luke Mayer, ATWT).
The "Salem Proud" event will take place on Saturday, October 10, from 10AM to 2PM in Burbank, California, and will feature stars like Christopher Sean (ex-Paul Narita, DAYS), Chandler Massey (ex-Will Horton, DAYS), Brock Kelly (Evan Frears, DAYS), Rikaart. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket will help benefit the Los Angeles LGBT Center. As Layne shares, "They help homeless youth there and they provide shelter and medical services for people in general."
For more information and to buy tickets, click here.
Following the "Salem Proud" event, Spectrum will be hosting a "Dishin' Days" event from 5PM to 9PM at the Los Angeles Burbank Marriott Airport Hotel. The line-up will include DAYS actors such as Eric Martsolf (Brady Black), Jen Lilley (ex-Theresa Donovan), Stacy Haiduk (Kristen DiMera), Billy Flynn (Chad DiMera), Kate Mansi (Abigail Deveraux), Paul Telfer (Xander Kiriakis), Brock Kelly, and Scott Shilstone (ex-Wyatt).
What do you think about the plans and the attendees scheduled for this year's "Salem Proud" fan event? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
