On the red carpet, I asked Chesky whether the Trump administration had made it harder for his nonprofit to house people fleeing tragedy. “No, absolutely not,” he insisted, describing emergency housing as a cause that transcends partisan politics. This was a rather diplomatic answer from a man whose company once ran advertisements welcoming refugees in pointed opposition to Trump’s 2017 Muslim travel ban. But Chesky wasn’t taking the bait. “This is a very united kind of issue,” he said.
The night took an emotional turn when Kimmel talked about his son Billy’s three open-heart surgeries before introducing a video of a young boy receiving cancer treatments who was the beneficiary of the charity’s efforts. At that moment, the child, who was in attendance with his mom and grandma, stood on his chair and made a heart symbol using his two hands. The crowd went wild.
José Andrés, whose name appeared on the menu but who was rather noncommittal when asked whether he had actually designed it, insisted that the evening’s charitable mission was more than an excuse for Hollywood to get dressed up.
By dessert, Kimmel was shaking down the wealthy guests. “Don’t cheap out,” he warned, noting that anyone who could afford the new folding iPhone (which retails at roughly $2,000) could surely spare $110 to provide a family with a night of emergency housing. He also accidentally revealed the evening’s secret musical guest: Charli xcx.
“Oh shit!” he exclaimed, realizing his mistake. “Okay, it’s not a surprise anymore.”
Charli eventually took the stage, with will.i.am and Greta Lee dancing from the front row. “That was soooooo good,” Lee said to me on the way out.
And although the set wasn’t particularly long, Charli rocked it, sending heads banging everywhere. She got the Hollywood room doing what it does best: partying for a cause.