For attendees of the seventh annual Creative Coalition Television Humanitarian Awards, which resumed their festivities in person on Saturday after a virtual event last year, Hollywood’s social and charitable scene has moved considerably closer to normal. Attendees brought their immunization cards and underwent COVID testing on-site in the driveway of film producer Lawrence Bender’s Holmby Hills alley, before gathering – mostly maskless – in the picturesque and sunny courtyard of his House.

Bender said Variety that after such a long period of personal protocols (“I went on vacation, I only go to outdoor restaurants. I haven’t been to a movie theater, which is terrible but I don’t. didn’t do it ”), he felt comfortable hosting the organization’s afternoon.

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“They told me right away that not only would they have to go through a double vaxx, but that they were going to be tested here, that things were going to be outside, so I felt pretty safe considering everything.” said the producer of “Pulp Fiction,” who has supported the group since hosting an event for his old friend actor Christopher Reeve’s paralysis foundation in 2000. “It’s a little strange but I’m really happy let people be here. “

“This Is Us” actor Justin Hartley, who was in attendance with his wife Sofia Pernas, was on hand to be honored for his work with Operation Therapy, which brings together veterans with severe PTSD with therapy animals. He said he’s gotten used to the once-depleted lack of Hollywood hugs. “You know not to be offended when someone says ‘Hi’ and keeps their hands to themselves,” he said with a laugh. “But I learned a punch trick. It annoyed me. I was like, ‘Why are we doing a punch?’ But now I’m like, ‘Oh, I got it. The punch is pretty cool. It’s actually better than the handshake.

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After numerous mixes and mixes in which guests who hadn’t seen each other for almost 18 months happily reconnected (including some real hugs), the organization – which promotes issues of public importance within the entertainment community and creates public service campaigns – awarded accolades to a range of television artists for their activism and began with a timely nod to Dr Anthony Fauci, who appeared virtually.

Fauci recognized the importance of help from the entertainment industry when he was tasked with tackling the HIV / AIDS epidemic in the 1980s: Health messages about the importance of proven COVID interventions -19, ”he said. Noting that his work to fight COVID, which he thought was coming to an end, resumed with the delta variant and the refusal of the vaccine, he quoted wryly Michael Corleone: “Just when I thought I was out. , they bring me back. ” But he still believed that continued industry efforts would be key to changing that: “We may be able to get closer to a goal that I think will get us back to normal. Your voices will continue to be critical.

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VarietiesEditor-in-Chief Marc Malkin hosted a fast-paced, alternately fun and emotional award ceremony, led by aqua wig Alex Borstein, who humorously joked about the shape of the award and used it on OnlyFans to raise funds for his cause. Borstein was honored for her work with the National Hemophilia Foundation, a medical condition that affected her, her mother, daughter, and other family members. “I’m not here as a spokesperson,” the “Wonderful Mrs. Maisel” actor said. “I am here as a family member of the bleeding disorders community and it is a passion. It’s not something I choose to get the word out – I have to. “

“Pose” star Mj Rodriguez has been recognized for his work promoting trans visibility. “I’ve always wanted to sow seeds generational and make sure I grow them, and the generations behind me, I want to make sure they thrive the way I know they do. could, ”Rodriguez said. “I will continue to do my job making sure that I remain as vocal as possible to the trans community, especially women of color.”

Receiving the ‘Your Voice Carries Weight’ award for her activism for education and acceptance of obesity, emotional Yvette Nicole Brown, who revealed she had lost her mother two months earlier, explained: “I have been of all sizes on the planet. I did it in front of cameras most of the time – if you saw me on “Community” I gained about 30 pounds in five seasons. I have never felt so invisible… It is important that someone say “I see you”. Forty-two percent of this country does not feel seen. We are entertainment people in this room, we have the power, our voices matter. We can change that.

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Accepting for her work with the September Letters therapeutic letter-writing initiative, Brittany Snow described how at 15 she unhealthily associated her physical appearance with her happiness, until a celebrity magazine essay revealing his recovery from similar issues helped Snow move forward. “I carried it in my back pocket – it reminded me that I was not alone. When my head told me I was crazy, the article on the back in my back pocket told me I was one of the many. Years later, after achieving her own fame and publishing a similar essay, Snow met a fan at a cafe: “She had tears in her eyes and pulled my magazine article out of her back pocket.

Padma Lakshmi was also honored, who seemed to practically accept for her work with the Endometriosis Foundation of America. “I wanted to create the foundation so that we can raise awareness so that we can increase funding at the federal level, so that we can pressure insurance companies to pay for women to get properly verified,” he said. said Lakshmi. “I don’t want a young woman of the next generation going through what I and millions of women have been through.”

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