The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon individual stations, airing on ABC on Sunday, September 1, 2013, and running two hours. The final edition aired on ABC on August 31, 2014, again as a two-hour special, beginning at 9PM ET/PT. It was announced on May 1, 2015 that the MDA would be discontinuing the annual event for good. Jerry Lewis began hosting telethons to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America (MDAA) in 1952 after a plea from a staff member who worked with Lewis and Dean Martin on "The Colgate Comedy Hour". Lewis had previously taken part in what has been described as the very first
Jerry Lewis boxing bout for MDA's fund drive, with Martin as referee. He then began hosting New York area telethons to benefit the organization from 1952 to 1959, leading up to the live annual Labor Day event of "The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon" (also referred to as "Jerry Lewis Extra Special Special", "Jerry Lewis Super Show" and "Jerry Lewis Stars Across America"), which ran from 1966 to 2010. In 1977, Lewis was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. By 1990, popular culture had shifted its view of the differently-abled and