Jennifer Hudson brought some uplifting pre-show entertainment to the televised 2020 NFL draft on Apr. 23. The 38-year-old Oscar winner shared a message that, “We love you, we appreciate you and we are praying for you,” to COVID-19 frontline workers before launching into the late Bill Withers‘ classic “Lean on Me.” It went down 15 minutes before the official team selections began.
This was the league’s way of acknowledging the coronavirus crisis and lockdown, which caused all of the selections to be made remotely via FaceTime and Zoom.
Jennifer performed the song from what appeared to be a home studio, as a guitar could be seen on the wall, as well as some other equipment in the background.