The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts rolled out the red carpet — or rather, blue carpet — as celebrities and Jewish activists descended on the nation’s capital Monday night for a star-studded evening in support of the Anti-Defamation League’s 30th annual “In Concert Against Hate,” where tunes from “Fiddler on the Roof” and a rendition of “Oseh Shalom” by the National Symphony Orchestra echoed through the halls.  

Ahead of the sold-out concert — which featured performances by Israeli Eurovision star Eden Golan and nine-time Grammy Award-nominated singer Sia — celebrities, event honorees, philanthropists and Jewish leaders appeared on the blue carpet where several chatted with JI. Ben Stiller, who emceed the evening, said that times are “frightening,” with “antisemitism being at such an all time high. 

It’s something I never thought I’d experience in my life. I grew up pretty sheltered from that in New York City,” Stiller told JI. “Right now we have to be positive and work toward unifying together, reaching out to people we disagree with and calling out hate when it happens.” While many other Jewish figures in Hollywood have remained silent about rising antisemitism, the Zoolander actor said he is not disappointed in his colleagues. “Everyone has their own personal journey and has to figure it out for themselves,” he said. “For me, it is important.”  

In a separate conversation on the blue carpet, music executive Scooter Braun, who was honored last night with the ADL’s Spotlight Award for his efforts in bringing the Nova Music Festival exhibition to U.S. audiences, told JI that “it’s important to be here because we have to be a voice that’s louder than the people trying to divide us.” Braun has frequently condemned the silence from the music industry after more than 400 people were murdered at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, last year. 

“My message is hate never wins … all it takes is good people coming together,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO, said on the blue carpet. 

Inside the concert hall, 2,400 attendees looked on as several honorees were presented awards for taking a stand against hate. In addition to Braun, the awardees were: Mehnaz Afridi, director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College; Charles Chavis, a civil rights activist whose work focuses on Black-Jewish relations, and Holocaust survivor Rosette Goldstein. The event also honored four survivors of the Nova music festival — Ofir Amir, Danielle Gelbaum, Tomer Meir and Daniel Dvir — and three U.S. college students who have been on the front lines of combatting rising campus antisemitism— Noa Fay (Columbia University), Luda Isakharov (University of Oregon) and Einav Tsach (University of Maryland). 

VIPs spotted in the audience included: Uri Levine, co-founder of Waze (Levine told JI he traveled from Israel specially for the event); Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism; Josh Kadden, CEO of the Nova Exhibition; Ari Ackerman, co-owner of the Miami Marlins; Katherine Kallinis, co-founder of Georgetown Cupcake and CNN journalists Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer. 

Also in attendance was a group of members of Congress that included Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Joyce Beatty (D-OH) and Don Bacon (R-NE). Several members of The Hostage and Missing Families Forum were in the crowd, representing the 101 Israelis who remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza.