Shari Redstone and Gelila Assefa Puck took over Spago Beverly Hills Tuesday night to host an event to help rebuild bridges between Black and Jewish communities.
Hollywood industry and arts heavyweights including producer Darren Star, talent manager Benny Medina, gallerist Jeffrey Deitch, Roc Nation cofounder Jay Brown, hotelier Jeff Klein, TV journalist Don Lemon, UTA chairman Jay Sures, model Beverly Johnson, rapper LL Cool J and more came out to listen and learn at a time of intensifying war in Israel and Gaza.
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“Shari Redstone and I had a conversation about antisemitism and racism a year ago. I called her up and said, ‘my platforms are the walls of my restaurants worldwide. I can put up an art show which guests can enjoy, and it will spark conversation.’ Then, after the week we’ve had…for me to cancel this event when I need to show up and show support….I had to stay core to what I conceived of a year ago. But it was a heavy week,” said Puck.
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The fashion designer and philanthropist noted the message in her outfit for the evening, a striking red Schiaparelli blazer with black embroidered ants. “Ants are messengers of change in a spiritual context,” she said.
The hope for change was the message of speeches by Redstone, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, and Rabbi Dave Sorani, among others.
“Sadly, this war is not unique to the Middle East. It’s a war based on hatred, a war that’s being fought day after day as we experience the terrifying rise of antisemitism, racism and other expressions of hate,” said Redstone, chair of Paramount Global. “There’s a danger to silence today which unintentionally encourages evil to flourish,” she said, invoking Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech upon accepting the American Liberties Medallion from the American Jewish Committee in 1965. “We must speak up.…We know the power than can be unleashed if we rebuild those bridges.”
Crump spoke about the rise in hate speech and book bans, concluding, “The way to defeat the enemies of equality is to make sure our young people are well armed not with assault weapons, bullets and means of violence, but to make sure they are well armed with intellect, diplomacy, strategic thinking, awareness of self. What we have to do to defeat the enemies of equality is to make sure all of our children are more intelligent than those who would seek to oppress them.”
Bringing the message of friendship to the table, guests enjoyed a dinner created by Wolfgang Puck inspired by Black and Jewish cuisines, with challah, corn bread, matzo ball soup, beef cooked with African spices, sweet potato pie and rugelach on the menu.
The dinner party marked the opening of an exhibition of works by Black and Jewish artists including Alex Israel and Lisa Edelstein, as well as selections from the Skirball Cultural Center’s current exhibition “This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement” highlighting the diverse Americans, including Jews, who supported that movement for change. The works will be on display at the restaurant through the end of the year.