LOS ANGELES – Celebrating 16 years, The Trevor Project will host its annual “TrevorLIVE Los Angeles” (TrevorLIVE LA), a high-profile evening of music, comedy and entertainment Dec. 7 at the Hollywood Palladium, presented by Wells Fargo. The event will bring together top entertainers, advocates and corporate leaders to support the organization’s life-saving, life-affirming work for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in crisis. The Trevor Project will bestow the Trevor Hero Award to NBC Entertainment’s Chairman, Robert Greenblatt, for his ongoing support of the LGBTQ community; Yahoo with the 20/20 Visionary Award, which will be accepted by Sandy Gould, SVP, Talent Acquisition, for its efforts to advance an empowering future-focused message for LGBTQ young people and its allies nationwide; and Skylar Kergil, a transgender artist, musician and YouTube personality, with the Youth Innovator Award for his passions surrounding LGBTQ rights and advocacy in the community.
The star-studded evening includes performances by: Katharine McPhee, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Alex Newell, Melora Hardin and Marc Shaiman. With special appearances by: Brittany Snow, Katherine Heigl, Dan Bucatinsky, Lisa Kudrow, Kelly Osbourne, Beth Behrs, Wentworth Miller, Matt McGorry, Jason Collins, Hal Sparks, Billy Eichner, Jay Ferguson, Jack Falahee, Ryan Eggold, Elisabeth Rohm, and Lt. Governor Gavin Newsome.
TrevorLIVE LA is produced and directed by Adam Shankman who will celebrate his 5th consecutive year directing the event. Yahoo Style’s editor-in-chief, Joe Zee, will join previous Trevor Youth Innovator Award honoree (TrevorLIVE NY ’14) Tyler Oakley and host/co-founder of What’s Trending, Shira Lazar, to co-host Yahoo’s LIVE red carpet pre-show on Yahoo Screen from 5:00-7:00PM/PST, sponsored in part by Toyota Financial Services.
Abbe Land, executive director & CEO of The Trevor Project stated, “All of our honorees this year are not only supporters but also strong role models. Their continued efforts have helped broaden the public awareness of the LGBTQ community. Whether it is through the development of diverse television programming, being a proponent of tolerance and equality in the work force, or openly sharing their story, they’ve all become pioneers who continuously push the boundaries and given a voice to our younger generation.”
Robert Greenblatt joined NBCUniversal in January 2011 as Chairman, NBC Entertainment, and reports to Steve Burke. Since taking over the primetime and late-night divisions of the company four years ago following the Comcast acquisition, NBC this past season rose from its long-held 4th place among broadcast networks to 1st in the coveted 18-49 demographics. Event programming such as “The Voice,” “The Blacklist,” and live holiday musicals have moved the network dramatically forward, while late-night has been reconfigured for the future with Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. Greenblatt also oversees Universal Television, which was re-established as a stand-alone studio in 2011 and now supplies hits to several networks. Prior to NBC, Greenblatt was President of Entertainment for Showtime Networks, Inc., where he supervised a slate of acclaimed original programming (“Weeds,” “Dexter,” etc.) that dramatically altered the Showtime brand and re-positioned the company as a leader in premium cable television. He began his career at the FOX network where he ran primetime programming from 1992-97 and developed such memorable shows as “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Melrose Place,” “The X-Files,” “Party of Five,” and “Ally McBeal.” As an award-winning producer, he is also responsible for projects ranging from HBO’s lauded “Six Feet Under” (Golden Globe Award) to this year’s hit Broadway musical “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” (Tony Award). He most recently received the Chairman’s Award from GLSEN, and in 2011, he received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award from GLAAD.
Yahoo has scored 100% on the HRC Equality Index for the eighth consecutive year, naming it a “Best Place to Work for LGBT Employees.” Yahoo has a history of supporting the LGBT community and Trevor, including being a sponsor at TrevorLIVE 2013 and marching with the Trevor Project staff and ambassadors in the San Francisco Pride Parade in 2013 and 2014. Each year Yahoo hosts a Pride on the Green Event at its Sunnyvale headquarters, where Yahoo invites representatives from LGBT non-profits to come to campus, host tables and speak to employees about the important causes they are working on. Yahoo provides grants through the Yahoo Employee Foundation (YEF) to several LGBT organizations, including the the Cascade AIDS Project, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and the LA Gay and Lesbian Community Center totalingTo help continue law enforcement education, Yahoo Safety provides the only cyber bully-related training of its kind offered in California.
Skylar Kergil is a transgender singer-songwriter, activist, educator, writer and artist originally from outside of Boston, but currently living between Portland, ME and various locations in the northeast. Most often known on the Internet as his pseudonym “Skylark” or “Skylarkeleven,” he began documenting his transition on YouTube in 2009 when he began hormone therapy. Being transgender is not the only identity Skylar assumes, but it has been one that has formed his passions around LGBT rights and advocacy for the community. Because of his YouTube and written blogs, he has been invited to speak internationally on college and high school campuses; due to wishing to complete his college career, he had to decline most of these invitations. In Fall of 2012, he was a speaker at the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY, which led him to become the keynote speaker at the 4th largest national Breaking the Silence Rally sponsored by GLSEN in April of 2013. He has also presented at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and The American College Health Association annual conference among others.
The Event Committee Members for TrevorLIVE LA are Caroline & Andy Bird, Chairman, Walt Disney International; RJ Rousso, Co-President, Pivotal Public Relations; and Josh Barry, TV Partner at Prospect Park. For more information and tickets to TrevorLIVE LA, please visit TheTrevorProject.org/TrevorLiveLA.
