Will Ferrell called for women to take over the world as he opened The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment gala, presented by Lifetime, on Thursday at The Beverly Hills Hotel.
“This is such a wonderful event where we honor and support and continue to fight for women in all facets of the entertainment world,” said Ferrell before adding, “Forget about the entertainment world, isn’t it just time? Isn’t it just time for women to run the planet?” he asked to resounding applause. “I’m not just trying to placate you, I swear, but I don’t know what else to do because we — men — we’ve been running the show since, what, 10,000 B.C., and we’re not doing so good. So, please, can you guys just take over?”
The actor and comedian, who most recently starred as the unnamed CEO of Mattel in Greta Gerwig’s summer blockbuster Barbie, had a very specific woman in mind for the top political office in the United States: Kerry Washington, who received the Equity in Entertainment Award at the gala.
“Kerry, you’ve always been amazing in everything you’ve ever done and an incredible advocate for so many different things. Can you just run for president? Please? We’ll pay you. We’ll do a GoFundMe right in this room and we’ll launch you,” he jokingly pleaded before also acknowledging Washington’s fellow awardee Adele, who received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at the event. (She is also featured on this week’s cover of The Hollywood Reporter.)
A slightly more serious moment in Ferrell’s remarks came when he spoke about The Hollywood Reporter Mentorship Program in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, which pairs high school girls from underserved communities in L.A. with female mentors who are top executives in the entertainment business.
“Every female studio and agency head has been a mentor in this program, and over $15 million in scholarships have been given out to graduates of this program,” said Ferrell before poking fun at Adele. “The young women have gone on to attend colleges at places like Harvard, Berkeley and Northwestern, but not Oxford or Cambridge because of Adele’s unjustified firing of Will Ferrell from ‘Rolling in the Deep,’” he quipped.
Ferrell also took a moment to recognize longtime friend and producing partner Jessica Elbaum, with whom he started Gloria Sanchez Productions nearly 10 years ago.
“She started out as my very first assistant and later she pitched me the idea of a production company that would focus on female storytelling while supporting women writers, directors and actors to which I said, ‘Yeah I guess so. Yeah, I could do that, I don’t know. Yeah,’” Ferrell explained.
Rattling off a long list of productions Elbaum has had a hand in bringing to life — Bachelorette, Sleeping With Other People, Dead to Me, Booksmart, Hustlers, Eurovision, Barb and Starr Go to Vista Del Mar, Theatre Camp, Quiz Lady and May December — he added, “I’m so proud of you, sister-friend, and it’s been all you.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Gala was sponsored by Cadillac, Google, SAG-AFTRA, Best Buy, Gersh and Upneeq, and in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, Chapman University and Loyola Marymount University. It was held in conjunction with the publication of THR’s annual Women in Entertainment issue and Power 100 list.