An emotional LeVar Burton talks about his stunning Reading Rainbow Kickstarter success.
Reading Rainbow's LeVar Burton launched a Kickstarter campaign Wednesday to raise $1 million to revive the beloved PBS series, and to say he's succeeded in that goal is an understatement.
The campaign reached $1 million in less than 12 hours, and is currently almost at $3 million.
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ET's Brooke Anderson caught up with LeVar to talk about the campaign's stunning success Friday.
"That is unbelievable," LeVar said, clearly overwhelmed. "It was crazy – we believed we could get to one million dollars in 35 days, you know, but we did it in 11 hours ... It was like, 'What is happening?!' A shock ran through me."
As for why the cause is so personal to him, LeVar explained the influence his mother had on his love for reading.
"My mother was an English teacher, and whenever I get the opportunity I talk about my mother. I am the man I am because of the woman that she is," an emotional LeVar revealed. "My love for literature comes from her insistence that I develop a relationship with it, because education is the leveler of the playing field. I've just been trying to pass that value on for 30-plus years to kids because I know that it's the truth ... If you can read, if you are literate in one language, and love reading, you will love learning. And if you love learning, then you're free. You're a free person. No one can enslave you."
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Check out the video for a flashback of ET's interview with LeVar in 1993!