Two days before the presidential debate, the #Heroes4Harris livestream addresses “real-life villain Donald Trump” and discusses what’s at stake with “real-life superheroes”
With 57 days to the election and two days before the first presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, actors who portrayed fictional superheroes including Mark Ruffalo (who has portrayed Bruce Banner/Hulk in the MCU franchise since 2012), Mandy Patinkin (who played Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride), and more teamed up with “real-life superheroes.” Whistleblowers Alexander Vindman and Jessica Denson, as well as climate activist Bill McKibben, and more luminaries shared their true stories alongside the fictionalized heroes’ journeys and how this relates to the American story, a shared interconnectedness, and what’s at stake from the lens of the Democratic side as they fundraise for the Harris-Walz campaign. The event, organized by Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Schlep Labs, raised more than $40,000.
Co-hosted by commentator-comedian Baratunde Thurston and actor Sean Astin (aka Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which he quoted during the event), the livestream also featured guests beyond Hollywood, which included Reps. Adam Schiff and Justin Jones, Native Organizers Alliance’s Judith LeBlanc, and former Capitol police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who shared he was attacked by up to 60 people on Jan. 6 as he defended the Capitol. There was also a meme-building lesson.
Some stories were uplifting even if they didn’t have a fairytale-style movie ending, like Montevallo, Alabama’s Joyce Jones, who ran for mayor in 2020, was subsequently attacked on social media by a conservative coalition, and lost by 48 votes. Meanwhile, Gonell shared his harrowing experience on Jan. 6 and its aftermath.
While no one sugarcoated the livestream’s sentiment that Trump is a threat to democracy, there was some levity amid the urgency. As Ruffalo encouraged everyone to Hulk-smash the donation button, discussed climate justice, and recited a hopeful quote from playwright Howard Zinn, he also took a humorous swipe at Elon Musk. “Elon Musk is such a two-faced turncoat traitor because he was a climate champion and he sold himself out for a buck and some power. Don’t follow that guy. That guy doesn’t even have his original accent anymore,” he quipped, drawing some laughs from others on the livestream. “Yeah, don’t follow him. Don’t listen to him. We’re the ones who we have to believe in.”
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Later, Patinkin gave an equally impassioned speech, sharing a story about why the truth is so important to him: When his father was dying from cancer, he was advised by others to not share this news with his father. “I bought into this, and I never got to sit with my father and tell him the truth. And you don’t get that chance again,” he said. “You don’t get a second chance with people you love, with your grandchildren, with your country. You have, sometimes, only one chance to hit the right note, and we are at one of those crossroads in the existence of this democracy, a republic, Ben Franklin said, if you can keep it. It has never been in more danger.”
He also treated those tuned in to a song. “This is a song that I love singing because it was written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, and it was to honor their immigrant parents who came to this country for a new beginning,” he explained before launching into a moving rendition of “Over the Rainbow” in English and Yiddish.
