Jennings New Hollywood Supports Director

Hollywood Supports, the anti-homophobia and anti-AIDS discrimination organization created by prominent members of the entertainment industry, will be headed by an individual who has, at times, been among the industry’s most outspoken critics.

Richard Jennings was named the group’s first executive director Thursday by organization founders Barry Diller, chairman and chief operating officer of Fox Inc., and Sid Sheinberg, president and chief operating officer of Universal Pictures parent company MCA Inc.

Jennings has served as the executive director of the L.A. chapter of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), since July 1990. GLAAD is a media watchdog group that challenges derogatory and stereotypical depictions of gays and lesbians on film, television and other media, and offers praise when they find positive examples.

The group has, for example, been critical of depictions of gays and lesbians in the current Warner Bros. release, “JFK,” and in the upcoming TriStar Pictures release of Carolco Pictures’ “Basic Instinct.” Jennings said GLAAD has worked behind the scenes with creators of the Warner Bros. release of “The Last Boy Scout,” and an upcoming “Quantum Leap” episode on NBC, “to educate the people responsible for creating the gay characters and making them accurate.

He does not foresee a problem working with individuals and companies with which he has previously clashed. “We’ve always taken principled positions and the people in the entertainment industry understand that. We’ve always tried to work in constructive ways,” Jennings said.

Jennings’ position with GLAAD will be filled temporarily by Chris Fowler, a public relations account executive with the firm of Bragman Nyman Cafarelli Inc.

In a joint statement, Diller and Sheinberg credited Jennings for raising Hollywood’s consciousness. “Similar work must be done to sensitize the entertainment industry about HIV-affected individuals,” the statement said.

The death of actor Brad Davis in September from AIDS focused concern about Hollywood’s attitude toward the disease and was the impetus behind Hollywood Supports. Sheinberg and Diller announced its formation and seeded it with more than $100,000 in September during a celebrity-studded benefit for AIDS Project Los Angeles. Since the formation, Hollywood Supports has attracted Warner Bros.’ executive Bob Daly, “JFK” director Oliver Stone, the Carolco Pictures executives behind “Basic Instinct,” as well as the movie’s star/producer Michael Douglas and TriStar executive Mike Medavoy. Among others: Norman Lear, Barbra Streisand, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., Irving Azoff, Mark Canton, Billy Crystal, David Geffen, Peter Guber, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, Jack Nicholson, Michael Ovitz, Joe.Roth and Brandon Tartikoff.