Amal and George Clooney Honored at Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance 2020 Gala; Entertainment Industry, Business Leaders Support; Medals of Valor Bestowed

October 29, 2020

Los Angeles, October 29, 2020 - The Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance honored Amal and George Clooney at its virtual gala on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.  The event was hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Simon Wiesenthal Center Board Member and Rabbi Marvin Hier, Simon Wiesenthal Center founder and dean and two-time Academy Award®-winner.

George Clooney narrated the Center’s latest film from its two-time Academy Award®-winning MoriahFilms' division, Never Stop Dreaming: The Life and Legacy of Shimon Peres which was acquired as a Netflix original and should be streaming sometime this year.

Medals of Valor Were Bestowed Upon:

    •    Dame Louise Ellman DBE, for her decades-long commitment to fighting anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom.

    •    Douglas Miguel Rodriguez (posthumously), from Ecuador, who was killed while trying to protect others from anti-Semitic terrorists who stormed a Jersey City kosher supermarket where he worked.

    •    Francesco Lotoro and Grazia Tiritiello, husband and wife musicologists from Italy who have devoted their career to collecting, preserving and performing the music of Jewish musicians who were in captivity during the Holocaust.


Program Highlights Included:

    •    The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s years-in-the-making relationships and outreach to leaders in the UAE, Bahrain, other Gulf and Arab countries including meetings with the Crown Prince of the UAE, the King of Bahrain, 5 missions to these countries, and UAE National Day hosted at the Museum of Tolerance last year.

    •    Pope Francis’ address to the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s delegation at the Vatican earlier this year where he speaks about fighting anti-Semitism and hate.


More:

    •    This year commemorates the 40th anniversary of Simon Wiesenthal Center galas involving Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Going back decades, a few of the Center’s chair people for past events have included Lew Wasserman, Frank Sinatra (Board Member), Elizabeth Taylor (Board Member and past honoree), Sid Sheinberg (SWC Board Member and past honoree), Arnold Schwarzenegger (past honoree), Robert Daly, Barry Diller, Rupert Murdoch, Joe Roth, Jack Valenti, Jane Fonda (also served as MC twice) and Ted Turner, Terry Semel, Madonna, Sherry Lansing, Jon Peters (past honoree), Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise (past honoree).


    •    Hosting are Jeffrey Katzenberg and Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and two time Academy Award®-winner.


Gala Chairs:

    ◦    Eddy Cue, Jim Gianopulos (SWC Board Member and past honoree), Bob Iger (last year’s 2019 honoree), Jeffrey Katzenberg (SWC Board Member and past honoree), Ron Meyer (SWC Board Member and past honoree), Jennifer Salke, Ted Sarandos (past honoree), Ann Sarnoff and Tony Vinciquerra.


Co-Chairs included:

    ◦    Mohamed Alabar, Len Blavatnik, Bryan Lourd & Bruce Bozzi, Kate Capshaw & Steven Spielberg, Susan and Jonathan Dolgen (SWC Board Member and past honoree), Michael Douglas (past honoree) and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jon Feltheimer (past honoree) David Geffen, Mary Hart and Burt Sugarman (SWC Board Chairs), Lyn and Norman Lear, Susan and Eric Smidt, Arnold Schwarzenegger (past honoree), Steve Tisch and Dana Norris and David Zaslav.

For further information, please email Michele Alkin, Director of Global Communications at malkin@wiesenthal.com  or 310-739-8063.
 
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish human rights organization numbering over 400, 000 members. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS, and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO).