Jeffrey Katzenberg to Hollywood: Use Movies to Fight Hate

George Lucas, fiancee Mellody Hobson and Jeffrey Katzenberg

Hollywood movie and TV shows are the greatest megaphone in the world for fighting intolerance, DreamWorks Animation ceo Jeffrey Katzenberg told an audience jammed with Hollywood luminaries at the Beverly Hilton Wednesday night as he accepted an honor from the Anti-Defamation League at its Centennial Entertainment Industry Dinner.

The dinner, with the theme “Imagine a World Without Hate,” celebrated the 100th anniversary of the ADL and raised over $1.1 million from an audience that included Twentieth Century Fox ceo Jim Gianopulos, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, producer George Lucas and his fiancé Mellody Hobson (who is a Chicago investment banker and chairs the DWA board), Warner Bros. chairman Barry Meyer, former Disney executive Dick Cook, producer Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, his actress wife and co-producer of the hit History Channel series The Bible. Actress Sarah Chalke and actor and comedian Rob Riggle served as masters of ceremony.

The night also featured a video appearance by President Barack Obama, who praised the ADL and Katzenberg, saying, “Anti-Semitism has no place in a civilized world."

Jeffrey Katzenberg Calls on Hollywood to Entertain and Inspire