HHS wanted A-list celebrities for an ad campaign to 'inspire hope' amid the pandemic. It got Dennis Quaid.

Dennis Quaid.
(Image credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)

Before his abrupt departure from the Department of Health and Human Services, former spokesperson Michael Caputo had a big idea. The department would round up more than 30 A-list celebrities to "inspire hope" amid the coronavirus pandemic, and nabbed $300 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make it happened, Politico reports.

HHS envisioned Billy Joel, Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, and others recording messages for their ad campaign. "But they ended up with only Dennis Quaid, CeCe Winans and Hasidic singer Shulem Lemmer" — and Quaid has already quit, Politico writes.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.