Unlike her beloved White Lotus character, Jennifer Coolidge had nothing to fear among friends at the 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards, held Thursday at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
The Emmy-winning star, 61, got a standing ovation as she stepped on stage to open this year's show. And she was quick to remind the audience of the last time they saw her in such fabulous company.
"Here I am again, surrounded by gays," she said, as a nod to her White Lotus character's infamous line (and ill-fated friendships) on the second season of the acclaimed HBO series. "Story of my life."
But the star quickly got serious. "We're here to honor media that helps the world understand and respect the LGBTQ+ community," said Coolidge. "You know, I have so much respect for the LGBTQ community and I just want you all to know that I love you and I thank you for always being there for me."
"That's why I'm here, because I wanna give back," she continued. "That's really what the GLAAD Media Awards are all about and I just want to that you all for being you and for inspiring me."
It wouldn’t be an award show in 2023 without the incredibly iconic @JENCOOLIDGE. She just made a surprise appearance to help us kick off the #GLAADawards (and these gays were not trying to kill her)
— GLAAD (@glaad) March 31, 2023
And then an old friend of hers had their own surprise. pic.twitter.com/4tzU8GMP9C
For Coolidge, supporting the LGBTQ community is supporting humanity. "We all have a right to be who we are and to love the people that we love and tell our stories and celebrate that in every way that we can," she said.
She was then celebrated herself, with GLAAD's Social Impact award. The honor was presented by Jane Lynch, Coolidge's longtime friend and collaborator (among their many projects together, the two famously played a lesbian couple in Christopher Guest's 2000 mocumentary Best in Show).
"I love you, sweetie," Lynch told a surprised Coolidge, as the two embraced and Lynch handed Coolidge the trophy.
"This wonderful woman here was pro-gay before it was cool to be pro-gay," Lynch shared with the audience. "She is one of us, ladies and gentle. And I have always said that the world has to catch up to Jennifer Coolidge. And the world has caught up to Jennifer Coolidge! One of the best, ladies and gentleman!"
Thursday's GLAAD Media Awards also saw accolades go to Christina Aguilera, Bad Bunny, Jeremy Pope, and Guillermo de la Cruz (among others). Billy Eichner's Bros, the Amazon series A League of Their Own, Disney+'s Dancing with the Stars and Fox's 9-1-1: Lone Star were a few of the night's big winners too.
Stars in attendance included Margaret Cho, Orville Peck, Angelica Ross, Betty Who, Gabrielle Union, Geena Davis, Joel Kim Booster, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Frankie Grande, Shangela, Gleb Savchenko, Abby Jacobson, Ts Madison, Brian Michael Smith, Rafael L. Silva, Abbott Elementary's Lisa Ann Walter and Vanessa Williams
As for Coolidge, she will be hard to catch up with soon. Later in the night, she had the highest bid in the event's auction, shelling out $39,000 a luxury trip for two to Paris.
The GLAAD Media Awards streams on Hulu April 12.
