By Page Six | Created at 2024-11-19 19:44:35 | Updated at 2024-11-23 07:55:25
3 days ago
Ben Stiller made a jibe at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he hosted the Anti-Defamation League’s ‘Concert Against Hate’.
The ‘Meet the Fockers’ star spearheaded the gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC Monday night.
Taking to the stage, Stiller, 58, told the crowd, “Tonight we’re going to battle hate with a healthy dose of hope.
“This extraordinary organization and the brave people we’re honoring have all taught us that even in the darkest of times there is light.”
He then joked of President Elect Donald Trump’s pick to head up the Department of Health and Human Services, “Tonight we’re going to raise the roof on the Kennedy Center before it’s renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Center for Animal Disposal!”
The joke seemed an apparent reference to how, in September, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced it was investigating RFK Jr. after he allegedly cut off the head of a dead whale and took it home two decades ago.
Stiller, who is the producer of the hit Apple TV + show ”Severance’, was joined on stage by honoree, music honcho Scooter Braun, Holocaust survivor Rosette Goldstein alongside survivors of the Oct. 7th Hamas attack on the Nova Festival in Israel: Ofir Amir, Danielle Gelbaum, Tomer Meir and Danielle Dvir.
The event was all the more pertinent in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, as Stiller noted, saying, “It’s a very tough time in the world right now, so much anxiety, uncertainty, so much hate in the world, anti-semitism is on the rise.
“In fact, I was worried about hosting this show — because people might realize I’m Jewish,” he wise-cracked.
“For 30 years I’ve been pretty discreet about my heritage, disappearing into a diverse array of characters like Chaz Tennenbaum, Ted Stroehmann, Josh Kovaks, Josh Srebnick, Matthew Myerwictz, Roger Greenberg, Ruben Feffer, Gaylord Focker, and Rabbi Jacob Schram.”
To applause from the crowd, he added, “Derek Zoolander apparently changed his name.”
Stiller also named ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt’s book of ferocity, naming the anti-semitism activist as one of the “The top 50 Jews you don’t want to f–k with.”
Singer Sia meanwhile dedicated a performance of her hit ‘Titanium’ to the Nova survivors, declaring “We will dance again”, while Israeli Eurovision finalist Eden Golan also joined the event to celebrate the ADL’s 30th anniversary, and actor Blair Underwood was a presenter.
