In a rare moment away from the usual glitz and glam of the entertainment industry, The Hollywood Reporter celebrated some superstars who are using their platforms to give back to those in need at its Social Impact Summit.
The event, put on by THR and the Social Impact Fund, honored John Mayer, Stephen and Ayesha Curry and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for their charitable efforts, tied to the magazine’s annual Philanthropy issue. Gilead Sciences Inc. presented the afternoon of awards and conversation, with Delta Air Lines, Perlman + Perlman, Macy’s, Good360, Charitybuzz, CARE, Peroni and La Crema also serving as sponsors.
Craig Cichy, executive director of the Social Impact Fund, kicked off the event at Los Angeles’ DGA Theater, followed by The Pitt star Sepideh Moafi delivering opening remarks and setting the tone of the day by telling the story of her own birth.
Moafi’s parents fled Iran and she was born in a refugee camp in Germany before the family immigrated to the United States; she recalled how her parents arrived in Germany by foot and found the doors to the refugee camp closed, with the people inside forming a human ladder to bring them in and keep them safe.
Sepideh Moafi speaks onstage.
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The actress compared that to today, when the U.S. is “granting a record-low number of people seeking asylum. Refugees and immigrants are being demonized. Families are being torn apart. Innocent people are being placed in detention centers instead of being given the opportunity to heal from persecution and displacement, and to build a new life,” as she added, “Compassion is not something we need to learn; it’s something we need to remember.”
Karamo Brown, NBA star Baron Davis, WalkGood LA founder Etienne Maurice and Dr. David Malebranche, executive director of Global HIV Medical Affairs at Gilead, then took part in a “Black Equity, Black Excellence: The Power of Purpose” conversation that revolved around the mental, physical and financial health of Black men.
From left: Karamo Brown, Alphonso David, David Malebranche, Baron Davis and Etienne Maurice.
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Queer Eye alum Brown emphasized the need to take ownership of one’s own mental health and noted, “For us to get the infrastructures to work we have to change ourselves, and I think that’s the biggest thing for everyone to understand.” Maurice also spoke about some of the challenges faced by Black-led organizations not “getting the support that we need,” as he said 91 percent of unrestricted funds are directed at white organizations.
The first honor of the day went to Mayer, who received the Philanthropist of the Year award for the work done through his Heart and Armor Foundation, a nonprofit that funds research into post-traumatic stress disorder and other veterans health issues. He was presented the award by Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jared Loomis and then joined Heart and Armor executive director Gerard Chocroun on stage for a chat, moderated by news anchor Jamie Yuccas, about their 15 years of collaboration in support of military service members.
Mayer recalled first meeting vets with PTSD and TBI (traumatic brain injury) and realizing that the public depiction of PTSD was “cartoonish, it’s bonkers, and I was blown away by the subtlety of it. I could feel it. I could look into these veterans’ eyes and there wasn’t an ounce of pity, but they’re in there. It’s not the preset to look for help; it is the preset to be self-reliant, and it is the preset to figure it out. But you can only figure it out with the tools you’ve got, and that’s when I realized that there’s got to be a way to at least leave these tools in front of them for them to discover.”
John Mayer
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“I’d never been deployed, I never will be deployed, but I got it,” the musician added. “I get how somebody could be upset, or the smell of diesel fumes could bring something back. We all have this sense recall we wish we didn’t have.”
The Currys, who appeared virtually after their flight was canceled due to the storms on the East Coast, were also recognized as Philanthropists of the Year for their Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, which Stephen and Ayesha Curry have been running in Oakland since 2019. In that time, the nonprofit has invested more than $100 million in the Oakland community, provided 35 million meals for kids and families experiencing food insecurity, committed $20 million for literacy programs and rebuilt 24 school playgrounds.
However, in chatting with moderator W. Kamau Bell, the NBA star admitted that hearing those numbers read back, “It’s encouraging and slightly depressing at the same time, just knowing how much work needs to be done. We need to tell the story about the work to make sure that the urgency of the need is expressed.”
W. Kamau Bell with a virtual Ayesha and Stephen Curry.
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Ayesha echoed that although they are proud of their foundation’s work, “Honestly, most days I just feel angry. I feel angry as a mom. I feel angry as a woman in this community. I feel angry as a human being who used to be a child, understanding that children could have such lack of, here in 2026. Oftentimes it’s learning how to deal with the anger that comes with having to convince people of why they should join in and help,” she said, emphasizing, “It’s so interesting that you kind of have to rally people when we’re talking about children.” Bell, a Bay Area native himself, also couldn’t resist asking Stephen to “blink three times if LeBron [James] is coming to the Warriors,” while the athlete quickly put his hands over the camera.
Next up, Laverne Cox made an appearance to present Gilead Sciences Inc. with the Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy award, as she told the room, “They have supported critical domestic initiatives ranging from comprehensive youth HIV education to specialized mental health and wellness support for women living with HIV. Gilead understands what so many still fail to grasp: that ending an epidemic means treating the whole person. It means breaking down systemic socioeconomic barriers that fuel the HIV epidemic daily.” Keeley Cain Wettan, executive vp and general counsel at Gilead, accepted the honor.
Laverne Cox
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Motion Picture & Television Fund CEO Bob Beitcher, Women in Film CEO Kirsten Schaffer, YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles president and CEO Victor Dominguez and Emmakate Young, managing director of brand marketing and global sponsorships, Delta Air Lines, sat down for a second conversation, this one centered on “The L.A. Safety Net: Legacy Philanthropy & The Industry’s Essential
Infrastructure.” Alisann Blood, co-head of global brand and music partnerships at UTA, moderated the panel, which largely focused on how L.A. can bounce back after blows from the pandemic, strikes, fires and entertainment industry struggles.
Beitcher noted how in the last few years MPTF has given away roughly $20 million to workers in need but with Hollywood production having reduced significantly, “we’re seeing members leaving the industry, they’ve given up.” He added, “We all hope that the industry will come roaring back with tax incentives and all those things, and at some point we’re going to find ourselves. Our big concern is [it will be] without enough trained, experienced people to do the work.”
From left: Alisann Blood, Emmakate Young, Bob Beitcher, Kirsten Schaffer and Victor Dominguez speak onstage during the “The L.A. Safety Net” panel.
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To close out the event, Harrison Ford stopped by to present the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and its founders Michael J. Fox and Deborah W. Brooks, with the Philanthropic Organization of the Year award. The foundation has become one of the most successful disease-focused nonprofits of the century, funding more than $3 billion in research and shaping the current scientific landscape for Parkinson’s.
At the podium, Ford spoke of how “35 years ago, Michael J. Fox got some very bad news. Most people handed something like that endure it; Michael went right to work. Playing Paul Rhoades on Shinking gave me some understanding of what it means to live with Parkinson’s” — Ford’s character is diagnosed in the Apple TV comedy — “and it also gave me Michael, as an actor, as a friend and the most stubborn optimist I know. Through him, I’ve seen what his foundation does,” including being on track to raise $700 million in research this year alone.
From left: Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox and Bill Lawrence.
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Fox and Brooks then joined Shrinking creator Bill Lawrence for a chat, as the writer explained that his father and grandfather were diagnosed with Parkinson’s and “what I was struck by was how it paralyzed my family when we heard that stuff, and how quickly Mike made the transition from saying, ‘I’m retiring’ to suddenly working harder than anybody I’ve ever met in my life.”
Fox recalled how after going public with his diagnosis, he would go in online chat rooms and see patients talking about how great his announcement was. “I thought, ‘Why would they be celebrating it?’ And I thought because they’ve just been voiceless for so long. It was considered an old person’s disease — put Grandma on the porch and just let her rock until she stops rocking. And in fact, it didn’t have to be that. A lot of people that are young, they have a lot to offer politically and economically, and as athletes and activists.”
Brooks said those initial patients “had this real sense of being seen — Michael was out in real life, shedding his vanity and just telling it like it is and living it like it is. And I feel like that combination also was super empowering. Fox is also very hopeful about the future, sure that “we can do it” and “we can build a drug that will save people’s lives,” and Lawrence said he’s confident “I’m going to get to see the end of Parkinson’s in my lifetime” because of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
