We’ve previously reported about LeVar Burton’s efforts to keep the Reading Rainbow name alive, even though the TV show was cancelled back in 2006. Burton, who most notably starred in the Roots mini-series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, was the host of Reading Rainbow on PBS for 21 seasons and 155 episodes.
In September, he launched a new company called RRKidz and is currently working on a Reading Rainbow iPad app.
Burton has been a very active Twiter user and recently tried to register the @readingrainbow handle. He found that the name had already been taken but hadn’t been used in three years. Burton tried to contact the person but couldn’t get a response.
Burton tweeted “Dear @twitter I’m trying to contact the individual who’s sitting on @ReadingRainbow but he hasn’t Tweeted in #3YEARS Can you help? Thanks!”
The actor has nearly 1.74 million followers and 700 of them retweeted the post. That got the attention of someone over at Twitter and, within a few hours, Burton had control of the @readingrainbow account.
For the record, Twitter doesn’t allow name squatting and reserves the right to remove accounts that have been inactive for more than six months. Burton wrote to his followers, “Thank you everyone for your help!!!.” A happy ending to his tale.
What do you think? Are you a fan of Reading Rainbow? Do you agree with the way this was handled?
Yes it is okay to go all out for what you believe in as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. How else will you get noticed and your point across. You can’t wait for someone else to do it for you because they may never care enough to help and give you a hand-up also.
LeVar Burton’s effort for this show have been remarkable! I think it’s great that he has gone to such lengths to get this for all of our children whether those in our households or those in our communities. Reading truly is fundamental and leads to such a new world of understanding once mastered. After school programs are cut. Summer jobs have been cut and unemployment is on the rise. So as the heads of households are either looking for work or trying to work 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet, who is teaching our children? Unfortunately, it is usually… Read more »
Butterflies in the sky, I can go twice as high…
Go LeVar Go!
That show was / is one of the best shows EVER to grace my TV, and I know as a young child I would love to watch that show. Dare I say for it’s more focused content, it is better then Sesame Street.
That’s great, I’m glad things worked out for him on Twitter!
I have heard of Reading Rainbow, but I am completely ignorant about its contents, since I have been very busy writing a book on WWII and managing my own life. I would like to know more about it though. In any case, since I know that LeVar Burton has always been involved in community work, in must be a very worthwhile effort and, at least morally (since I am not very well off monetary-wise), I am willing to sustain him in everything he does to make this world a better one. Reading and writing has always been an important factor… Read more »