Milk producer Bruce Cohen and NBC Universal
were honored on Wednesday night at Outfest's Legacy
Awards, held at the Directors Guild Theater in Los
Angeles and hosted by Bruce Vilanch.
Cohen was
presented with his "Outtie" award by good
friend Ewan McGregor. As he went to the podium to
claim the statue Cohen greeted McGregor with a hug and
a kiss, remarking in a singsong voice, "I just kissed
Ewan McGregor on the lips. See, that is what this
evening was all about." Cohen is a longtime
supporter of Outfest and helped start the Outfest
Legacy Project, which works to restore historic LGBT films
and videos, but he used his acceptance speech to thank
everyone else who was there, including his husband,
and to ask the audience to get active in fighting
Proposition 8.
NBC Universal was
also honored for its commitment to diversity and the
portrayal of LGBT characters in its films and television
shows. Accepting the award is NBC Entertainment
cochair Ben Silverman, who was presented the award by
Molly Shannon, star of NBC's upcoming Kath &
Kim. His speech outlined the company's
continuing commitment to the community, then ended on a
personal note. "I debated whether or not to say this,
as I am a bit of a press target," said
Silverman. The audience was waiting for him to come
out. "No, it's not me," he continued.
"But my mother is gay."
He was met with
great applause. But the night was also about fund-raising
for the restoration project, so actress Mary McCormack
hosted a live auction. The first item was a night with
gospel singer Tony Sweet, who recently came out in the
pages of The Advocate. The second was a private
fashion consultation by Randolph Duke, who was in
attendance. The third was a day on the set of Pushing
Daisies, which Bruce Cohen and his partner Dan
Jinks produce -- and whose creator, Bryan Fuller,
who was in the audience, committed to a donation of
several thousand dollars to the project as the evening
began.
The last prize
was two tickets to the Los Angeles Milk premiere,
again courtesy of Jinks-Cohen. McCormack was a
firecracker whom the audience ate up -- we could have
stood there and watched her all night as she guilt-tripped
her bidders into upping the stakes. With so many gay
entertainment bigwigs in the audience I can only hope
she got a TV show out of it.
The evening also
served as the first introduction of Outfest's new
executive director, Todd Heustess, who will be replacing
Kirsten Schaffer. It was only his second day on the
job, so he was a little overwhelmed but enthusiastic
as he addressed the audience.
Also in
attendance were Kristen Bell of Heroes, Marisa Tomei, and Wilson Cruz.
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