It’s been about nine months since Jeremy Piven was accused of sexual misconduct by several women — claims he has vehemently denied — but he’s slowly been stepping back into the spotlight. Not only has he launched a stand-up comedy career, but he hosted a charity event on Saturday for survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.
The actor presided over a gala at the Beverly Wilshire for Face Forward, an 11-year-old organization that provides free reconstructive surgery for victims of violent crimes.
“We know about domestic violence but we don’t know that people have been burned and disfigured,” Piven told Variety. “There’s a lot of plastic surgeons in this town, and they can step up and pay for their bills and that’s a pretty beautiful thing.”
Press assembled on the red carpet were told not to ask Piven and the rest of the evening’s presenters and attendees about anything other than the event with the intent to keep the focus on the organization and its work, according to a rep for the event.
The gala’s honorees included Caitlyn Jenner, who was presented with the Beacon of Hope Award. The former reality television star noted that seeing the work Face Forward has done “is a great inspiration for me. I started my own foundation about 18 months ago and to see how far we’ve come in just 18 months is amazing to me, and I know you’ve been doing this [for] 10 years, and to see the progress, the help you’ve been able to provide to people is just amazing.”
She also spoke about the many challenges facing transgender people, including job discrimination, homelessness, suicide, and human trafficking, and admitted that she knew nothing about those struggles until she came out in 2015, having never even met another trans person.
“Of the L, the G, the B, and the T, the T is by far the most misunderstood, the most underfunded portion of our community,” Jenner said during her speech. “The trans community is the most discriminated against, the most marginalized community on earth. Trans issues do not stop at borders. Every country on Earth has trans people and gender non-conforming people.”
Producer Jay McGraw and Bottega Louie owner Christopher Bollenbach were also honored. Ne-Yo performed and Sara Gilbert presented. The guest list also included Brigitte Nielsen, AnnaLynne McCord, and “Dancing With the Stars” pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd.
