Fiona Apple Scores and Narrates New Court-Watching PSA

"Court watching is really the gateway to a better community, a better world, because it will make you care"

BY Kaelen BellPublished Feb 16, 2023

Updates from Fiona Apple are typically few and far between these days, and when she does decide to reach out to fans it's usually not to talk about music — instead, Apple uses her platform to raise awareness for, among other things, court watching. 

Though she lives in California, Apple has been virtually court-watching in Prince George's County, MD, since 2021, and she's become a fierce advocate for the process in the years since she started. Now, she's written a score — and provided some voiceover narration — for a new animated PSA about the importance of court watching.

For the unfamiliar, court watching is the act of observing what happens in publicly accessible courtrooms (particularly during bail hearings) and documenting what happens there in an attempt to ensure that the rights of the accused aren't being abused. During the pandemic, court watching went online, meaning anyone could sign up and watch from the comfort of their homes via Zoom. 

Apple has never physically been to PG County, but she got involved with Court Watch PG — the country's biggest virtual court-watching organization — after helping with a campaign called Gasping for Justice. 

The new short film advocates for a centralized national network of court watchers, and it's got an upbeat, jazzy score courtesy of Apple, who also plays a voice role in the film and tells her own story of court watching. The four-minute short film is illustrated like a comic book, and the main narrator is Grey's Anatomy's Jesse Williams. 

Check it out below. 
 

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