“Defending Israel does not mean Israel is beyond criticism,” said Skydance‘s Ynon Kriez bluntly tonight after being presented by Simon Wiesenthal Center‘s 2026 Humanitarian Award by co-CEO David Ellison, Gal Gadot and Jeffrey Katzenberg. “The fight against antisemitism is a fight against hatred in any form,” the ex-Mattel boss added.
Thanking Ellison for his “bold stand for Israel and the Jewish people,” Kriez wasted no time at the Beverly Wilshire hosted function addressing contemporary attacks on Jews and its rise around the globe in his acceptance speech. “Israel is now confronting a very different world beyond it’s borders” he observed, referencing the horrific October 7, 2023 attacks on the Jewish state and the digital spears of the 21st century. “Ancient hatred has found new platforms on which to spread.”
To that, Kreiz put the focus on himself, Ellison and Skydance and the platforms they possess to combat the spread of hate. “We recognize that business leadership comes with moral responsibility,” the co-CEO stated, reading the room.
In many ways, tonight’s beautillion ball by another name for the Skydance co-CEOs was also a bit of déjà vu or, perhaps more accurately, a reimagining, with many of the same personalities and execs in the ballroom as last year’s Wiesenthal gala.
Once again, a CEO got the big award and a CNN host (Dana Bash last year, former anchor Brianna Golodrya tonight) received the Jewish Heritage Award earlier in the ceremony. Once again, Shari Redstone plus Cheryl & Haim Saban were among the event’s chairs. Once again, there was Ellison and his inner corporate circle in the packed ballroom. Top agents, and top entertainment lawyers like the Glaser Weil crew were back, as was SWC CEO Jim Berk, SWC trustee and Dinner Chair Katzenberg. Missing this year were gala co-chair Ted Sarandos, and David Zaslav, a 2026 chair.
Once at almost every opening and gala over his stint running WBD, Zas has disappeared from town since Paramount’s $111 billion purchase of the Burbank studio finally closed earlier this year and the now ex-CEO pocketed a very lucrative $600 million exit.
Among other big names at tonight’s dinner, Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel was holding court before the ceremony started at a table in the dead center. Pulp Fiction EP Lawrence Bender was there like last year. Producer extraordinary Jerry Bruckheimer sat at the dinner Wednesday with Bad Boys franchise screenwriter Chris Bremmer. HBO boss Casey Bloys and Fauda star Lior Raz were in the thick of it too tonight. Range Media’s Jack Whigham & legal pitbull Marty Singer were also making the rounds, as were WME co-chair Richard Weitz, CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister, Lionsgate’s Kevin Beggs and Gadot’s husband producer Jaron Varsano.
Telling the crowd how Kreiz is “a leader in the true sense of word,” Ellison himself spoke tonight of the need for “people of courage and conviction” to come together as he said the SWC does. “We all have a voice,” Ellison added in his brief remarks, imploding those present to follow the example of the SWC and his co-CEO in speaking out against injustice.
That sentiment was further in a video featuring Israeli President Issac Herzog that played for the Beverly Wilshire ballroom before Kreiz took the stage. “Together we shall prevail,” he declared. In a very different and overall much more playful tone, another video played with Vin Diesel, Saban, Illumination’s Chris Meledandri, producer Robbie Brenner, and Raz praising tonight’s honoree. On-stage, Gadot spoke of the “joy and passion” Kreiz brings to his family and his work.
Unlike 2025’s dinner where the now former WBD CEO was honored as Trump-friendly Ellison and, as was revealed during last year’s gala, Sarandos locked horns over the pricey ownership of Warner Bros, tonight saw Ellison and his newly merged mega-company on a very different perch in the Hollywood hierarchy. With vibe always a major industry player, Sarandos may remain the mayor of the town, but Netflix’s stock and stature has taken a hit over the past year. One of the consequences, as Deadline reported, is that a chorus is growing among Netflix execs past and present for the streamer to rediscover its alleged lost mojo.
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Up on stage tonight, just six weeks after being named to top Skydance job, the manner in which ex-Mattel boss Kriez spoke to the Bev. Wilshire crowd was a world away from the corporate jargon (how many times can anyone say “holistic”?) that filled the media giant’s November 9 earnings call. In that session with Ellison and Skydance’s CFO Dennis Cinelli, Kriez was dry as sand — when not throwing shade on the old WB Pictures team.
This Veterans’ Day, the co-CEO was much warmer, revealing more of the man born in Tel Aviv 61-years ago. Speaking of his own family history from Ukraine, Austria, the UK and eventually the Jewish state, the executive connected his life to the conflicts of the Middle East like the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur war and the first Gulf War. His joke that it was “a standard upbringing for an Israeli kid,” got a mild laugh. Kriez retelling of the nightlife of Tel Aviv received a much louder and knowing response.
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The man who is charged with the day-to-day running of Ellison’s empire also spoke of his entrance into the world of media after meeting his “mentor” Saban and partnering with the mogul in 1994
In that sense, leadership was the word of the night — in both the corporate and cultural sense.
“We are living in a world where we need leadership,” Gadot said in her own remarks “If people continue to see hatred and look away, where does it end?” The Runner star added, with her voice breaking. “Please keep shining your light, the world and our community needs it more than ever,” she concluded to Kreiz and the audience.
Before Kreiz, former CNN anchor Brianna Golodryga — whose novel Don’t Feed the Lion Gadot is helping bring to the big screen — received the Jewish Heritage Award.
In her acceptance speech, Golodryga joked with Kreiz from the stage about time spent not too long ago in Aspen with the co-CEO and his family. “I now understand the term ‘better half,'” she said, to a big laugh, about meeting Kreiz’s spouse & former Olympian Anat Fabrikant. “I love your wife.” On a much more serious note, the ex-CNN host spoke as others had done Wednesday of the horrors of antisemitism and the rise of such hate again in our time. To that, Golodryga also spoke of her own family history from Eastern Europe to Houston, Texas and the journey that entailed and the convictions about her faith and self it gave her.
Before Golodryga and Kreiz, the SWC dinner gave this year’s Medal of Valor to Elica Le Bon for her activism against antisemitism.
Looking at the bottom line, last year’s SWC gala raised $4.3 million, and I hear they look to top that tonight.
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