Some of the biggest stars and creatives in Hollywood attended Multicon this year to help support a wonderful cause—helping rebuild Los Angeles.
Earlier this year, Los Angeles went through some of the most destructive fires California has ever seen.
Thanks to multiple fires, 29 people lost their lives, over 23,000 acres of land were burned, more than 11,000 buildings destroyed, and roughly $30 billion in property damage.
Despite this intense tragedy, LA is a resilient city, filled with even more resilient people.
This year, to help with the recovery and building efforts, all proceeds from Multicon went to United Way Greater Los Angeles.
Hollywood Stars and Creatives Explain Why Los Angeles Is So Resilient
While on the red carpet for Multicon, a benefit event held at The Preserve in Los Angeles, The Direct spoke to most of the attending guests, revealing why they think LA is as resilient as it is.
Scott M. Gimple, the Chief Creative Officer of The Walking Dead franchise, proudly declared that "when calamities happen, everybody has always come together:"
Scott M. Gimple: I've been here since I was 18, and then I was here a lot during my childhood. And I think this is one of the most diverse places on earth. It's where people from all over the world come together, and we're doing that before calamities. When calamities happen, everybody has always come together. I think that's part of what this city is.
You know, the city has, a history that can be very difficult in many ways. We can't ignore that. But in the same respect, you can point to things throughout history, of people coming together, of communities that don't touch each other, coming to each other's aid. And I'm very proud to be a Los Angeleno, and I feel very lucky to have come up here and just the variety of what this city is, that variety, that diversity, I mean, it's been proven to be our strength.
The Walking Dead star Khary Payton, who also stars in Invincible and Teen Titans Go!, pointed out that "When an earthquake or crazy wildfires happen, it's happening to resilient people:"
Khary Payton: I think people coming to Los Angeles from all over the country, all over the world, you know, to do something hard. That they got a belief in a dream, and the thing is that you leave that small town behind, and you come out here, and you say, I'm going to tell a story, I'm going to say something and do something that's going to impact somebody that I'm never gonna meet.
It's gonna get disseminated, broadcast all over the world, and I think the act of getting in your little car, your little beater, and coming out to LA, and getting those string of parking tickets, you know, I call it like LA tuition. It's like, how did I get it? Where'd they come from, you know?
But it's one of those things that bonds you and it's a hard town, but if you, if you can make it here, you're doing something... When an earthquake or crazy wildfires happen, it's happening to resilient people who've decided that they wanted to do something hard.
Spider-Man star Yuri Lowenthal, who also spoke about his upcoming role in Spider-Man 3, confidently stated that "we have strength in the diversity:"
Yuri Lowenthal: I think LA is resilient for many reasons. One is because of just the terrain. It takes a lot to live out here in LA. To want to live in LA, you have to be able to take LA. So, I think the people here are already resilient.
Also, it's one of the most diverse cities I've ever—and I came from New York, so that's saying a lot. We have strength in the diversity here. And people come from all over to live in Los Angeles, and, you know, they bring all the all the strengths with them. So it's like wound together into a tapestry that makes the whole place resilient.
Tara Platt, known for her voice roles in World of Warcraft and Insomniac's Spider-Man, compared the strength and resiliency of Los Angeles to a strongly woven tapestry:
Tara Platt: I think it's about the diversity. I think it's such a widespread community. It's not only one group of people, and we always get better. It's like the rising tide looks all ships, kind of and so because it's such a melting pot, I think that's one of the exciting parts of living in Los Angeles.
There's so much culture, and there's so much entertainment, and there's so much, just like, pushing the bounds a little bit. And I think that's exciting. I think that's what makes LA as strong as it is because it's woven with these really strong fabric webs.
Actor Daniel Logan, who has portrayed young Boba Fett in several Star Wars projects, proudly shared that "we push through, and we continue to fight every day:"
Daniel Logan: It's the people. I mean, I got friends all over the country, and they always ask, why are you out there in California? And I say, you know, not only is it the weather, but it's the people. And a lot of us are artists, a lot of us are entrepreneurs.
And every day is a struggle, but we push through, and we continue to fight every day, not only for ourselves, our families, and now today, days like today for our community. But you know, Los Angeles is one of the most iconic cities, and if not the most iconic city in the entire world, and we got to remember that days like today, we do, and we come together.
Jackie Tohn, who stars in Netflix's recently released series Nobody Wants This, admitted that it's wild how, after such big crazy wildfires, that people still don't want to leave—which says great things about the people living there:
Jackie Tohn: What's wild about LA is, like, you can go straight from a fire into a mudslide and still, nobody I know wants to leave, like we want to leave for different [reasons], if people want to get out of LA, it's for different reasons. But it's like, we love this city.
Personally, I'm from New York. I love New York, and I'm gonna get my New York lovers coming for me right now, I'd rather be in LA. The weather is beautiful all the time. There's so many creatives here. The community is incredible. I mean, I think, really, once you find your home here, you know, there's the stereotypes of like people are fake.
It's like you're meeting the wrong people, like there are more amazing, creative, interesting people in Los Angeles, and I used to tour than, you know, than anywhere I find. And I think it's part of the reason that we just love LA so much. I mean, this is absolutely home, and it's home to so many crazies in the best way.
Anyway, that's why it's resilient. I think you want to fight for what's yours, and LA feels like it's ours, and all the craziness that's been going on lately, we need to make sure it's okay. We need to make sure our communities are okay. We need to make sure Altadena and The Palisades are okay. And so that's what we're doing. So I think it's just resilient, certainly based on the people who are passionate about the city and want to be here.
Kel Mitchell, star of the widely popular Good Burger film series, simply stated, "It's about family:"
Kel Mitchell: Because, man, it's about family. You're seeing that right now. You're seeing the family. I mean, of course, entertainment, movies, all that stuff like that, but it's some beautiful families out here. We are going to rebuild, and it's starting now, and I'm loving seeing all the love. You know what I mean? Like, I've seen all the love, seeing everybody coming together. It's been awesome.
Shar Jackson, who also stars in the Good Burger franchise, proclaimed that "LA is made of a bunch of tough cookies:"
Shar Jackson: I just think that LA is made of a bunch of tough cookies. People like to say that—there are all these stereotypes about us. We're mean, and we're, you know, self-centered and all these things. And there may be little pieces of that sometimes, but for the most part, you got to be a tough cookie to be in the industry that LA has created. It is not for the weak at heart at all. And I think the resilience comes from those people who can handle that industry.
"It's just built in the spirit [of Los Angeles]," Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld added:
Rob Liefeld: It's just built in the spirit. I mean, it's the town of movies, and movies are an extension of art, and art takes great, I think, both inspiration and effort. We all fight the page, fight the script, but I think this town just refuses to go down, and there's a lot to fight for.
It's beautiful, but it's this incredible melting pot of all these different cultures. I was born and raised in Southern California. I've lived here my whole life, so I've literally watched it, and no, those fires were as devastating as anything I've ever seen.
My son lived up in the Hollywood Hills. He had to be evacuated, came down, and spent those two days with us in Orange County. My sister-in-law had to be evacuated and wasn't let back into her home for four and a half weeks.
So, yeah, it's crazy, but no, this town always fights back, and I think you know it's going to come back bigger than before.
Invincible and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman summed it all up by saying that "it's just a great community:"
Robert Kirkman: I think it's just a great community. It's obviously huge, and I think there are just so many different people here, and there's just such a great community here. There are so much great things about the city that I think, you know, it just, it builds a resilience in the population... I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about [laughs].
Superman and Lois star Bitsie Tulloch, who portrayed the titular Lois Lane, leaned on the idea that "it's a city of dreamers:"
Bitsie Tulloch: The reality is, it's a city of dreamers, really, and dreamers dream... There's just no doubt in my mind that the city will rebuild. I think what stresses me out the most is that so many people who either couldn't afford fire insurance or had had their policies canceled.
And what worries me is that so many of our beloved friends and co-workers and family members and people... would have to quit this industry or move away because they literally can't afford to be here anymore. And so I think that's part of why it's so important to raise awareness.
But as far as the resiliency of the city, there's no question. It's just the kind of people that are drawn to the entertainment industry. We're artists, and we're used to not everything working out the way we want it to at all times. So I think that's really why.
Isaac Robinson-Smith, who voices Bishop in the beloved Marvel Studios animated series X-Men '97, claimed that "when the city is hurting, we're all hurting:"
Isaac Robinson-Smith: I think one thing that I love is how many different kinds of people there are. And I don't think that is going to stop about LA. I mean, it's always going to be people coming in from, like, I'm not from LA originally.
It's people coming in from everywhere and finding their ground in a new thing that they either discover or have always dreamed about. And so the fact that it's so diverse in desire and type of person, I think that's why this works so well. Things like [Multicon] and coming together is because we all understand that we're all trying to come up together as one thing.
And so having that sort of feel, I think, is natural about Los Angeles, especially with people I work with in voiceover. We all are from different places, and I'll do so many different things, but we're all uniting for the same kind of common goal.
And so, something like this is sort of reflecting that in a much bigger way. And so like, when the city is hurting, we're all hurting, we all need to do something about it.
Sean Gunn, who fans will know from Guardians of the Galaxy, Creature Commandos, and Suicide Squad, was certain that "we'll do everything it takes to get back on our feet:"
Sean Gunn: LA is a city of dreamers. There are a lot of great people who are from here, but there are also a lot of transplants, people who left, particularly in the entertainment industry, who left the city or town that they were in, and they were like, You know what I'm gonna go to Hollywood, and I'm gonna get into the entertainment industry.
And it makes for a really eclectic and driven group of people. So I love the city of Los Angeles. I'm one of them. I grew up in Missouri, but I've been in LA for a quarter of a century, and I just love it. And we will rebuild, we'll bounce back, we'll do everything it takes to get back on our feet.
High School Musical veteran and star Kaycee Stroh proudly labeled LA as "a melting pot of very unique humans:"
Kaycee Stroh: Well, LA is a melting pot of very unique humans, and with every unique human comes a set of talents and a different sense of humanity and passion, and I think that's why it's so amazing. When we do pull together, we can all offer what we have and bring it to the table. And I know that LA will thrive again.
Monique Coleman, another veteran and star of the High School Musical series, pointed to the people of LA and their connection to the arts:
Monique Coleman: I think LA gets a bad rap of, you know, just from kind of the outside looking in, but from the inside, we're just a bunch of dreamers who really care about art. And I think most people that care about art also care about humanity. And so I think it's pretty obvious that this community would gather around its own.
There's such a misconception about the wealth in the city, but also that wealth was generated through, like, multiple generations of contributing, you know, to this place. And so yeah, it feels really wonderful to be able to come together and mobilize for this cause.
Famous creator and influencer Juju Green, also known as Straw Hat Goofy on TikTok, also reiterated how the "melting pot of people" are "already resilient as hell:"
Juju Green: As an LA native [who] grew up, born, and raised in Compton, I feel the thing that's so resilient about us is how welcoming we are, and we're able to adapt to a lot of different people. There are a lot of people who come to LA for a lot of different reasons.
And so, when you bring all of those people coming to a city where the main thing is to kind of like, be something, create something. And so you just already are putting yourself in a melting pot of people who are already as resilient as hell.
So, not only do you have the natives who have been here forever and kind of make it work, because you know how expensive LA can be, but like the people who are coming here trying to make something, when you put them all together, it just creates, just like the strongest bonds you can think of, you know, so I think that's one of the biggest reasons.
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