"Westworld" Star Jeffrey Wright Launches Non-Profit to Feed Workers
CUOMO: Jeffrey Wright, one of the stars of HBO's "Westworld" and a ton of other TV shows and movies, very talented guy. But he is not just an artist on the screen that feeds a passion for community and humanity, especially in Brooklyn, New York. He has launched a non-profit that helps both small businesses and essential workers in Brooklyn, which if you didn't know is one of the hardest hit spots in the pandemic. So the non-profit is called "Brooklyn for Life." It has already raised $800,000. It needs more. CNN and HBO parent companies, Warner Media and AT&T, have donated 250 grand so far. Jeffrey, welcome to "Prime Time."</s>JEFFREY WRIGHT, ACTOR: Thanks, Chris. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to see you on the better side of this thing, too. I hope you're -- the same for your family, as well.</s>CUOMO: Thank you very much, brother. As you know, I am one of the lucky ones. Let's talk about those who need help. What are you doing? How does it work? How can we get a piece of the action?</s>WRIGHT: Well, you know, this thing started pretty simply, Chris. I was really just trying to help out a couple friends of mine who are restaurant owners here in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. One, a guy named Michael Thompson, has a place called "Brooklyn Moon." It has been in the community for 25 years. I have lived here for 20 years. He has been my neighbor since. He wasn't so delivery-oriented. So we went on lockdown. He tried to convert to delivery mode. I said I'll help you out and try to boost you on social media and make it known, what you're doing. And so I did call him back the next day after we went on lockdown. I said to him, Mike, how are you doing? He said, I got five orders today, bro. You know, that's not going to work. We called another friend named Vito Randazzo. He has got a place called Graziella's over here. My kids and I eat Graziella's pizza practically every day since he's been there for 15 years. He's a friend, as well.</s>WRIGHT: He was having folks call in to order pizzas on behalf of staff at Brooklyn Hospital, which as well is here in Fort Greene, where Tony Fauci was born, 175-year-old facility, safety net facility in our community. So, we met with a guy named Lenny Singletary over there.</s>CUOMO: Yes.</s>WRIGHT: He is the VP for external affairs. He said yeah. You know him well. He said, hey, you know, we can use the additional support. We got folks working 15, 16-hour shifts, they're not going home, they're staying in hotels, all the restaurants are closed, so whatever you can do to support us would be welcome. So, we started on March 27th, supplying 200 meals from those two restaurants to Brooklyn Hospital. I opened up a GoFundMe page to try to fundraise on behalf of that. And so as of this week, we passed the 120,000 meal mark. So since March 27, we have through a circle of over 50 restaurants now from Bed-Stuy (ph)to Bay Ridge, we provided meals to 10 medical facilities in Brooklyn and all 11 FDNY EMS stations, averaging about 2,500 meals per day. One of the many great stories about this is that those have all been coordinated by my friend Mike's daughter. She's hold up in her apartment, 27 years old, Camille Thompson, she's coordinating with the hospitals, coordinating with the restaurants, taking in orders, maintaining quality control, and she, by herself, single-handedly, has been responsible for 120,000 meals going out to these places.</s>CUOMO: One day, they did 5,000 meals. Just to remind people, because there's a lot of numbers, so, he went from five with one guy because that was all he could do by himself. So he had to become part of something bigger, which is what we are always encouraging people to do. And it went from five meals to then 200 meals. And one day, they did 25,000. The biggest they've not (ph) done is 5,000 in a day, over 120,000 overall, 10 different hospitals. And you're thinking, Mike meals, these people aren't starving? Yes, they are. They are working tremendously long shifts. They burn a ton of calories. They need food. They don't have time to go out and eat, even if they had the money to do it. And a lot of these people don't make the cash that you think they do. They are also feeding first responders of the FDNY and EMS stations in Brooklyn. A dozen police precincts, as well. So, how do we get in on this action? The website is www.brooklynforlife.org. Jeffrey, I got to tell you, it's not easy for a guy from Queens to say those words, but I'm going to say to them, because they're about the bigger community, of all of us in this country. So, I will put "Brooklyn for Life" coming out of my mouth, which ordinarily, I would never have said. Brooklynforlife.org. Where do you hope this goes?</s>WRIGHT: You're welcome here anytime, Chris. You know that. We'll get you out on the ball court out here. You're welcome here.</s>CUOMO: Oh, please. Go ahead.</s>WRIGHT: But, yeah, you know, that's --</s>WRIGHT: We will talk about that. That has been one of the really exciting things. The GoFundMe page was set up, as I said, March 27th. We've raise over $300,000 now on that. That was largely through five and 10-dollar donations, 25-dollar donations from Brooklyn Knights who wanted to get involved, also folks from around the country. We also had some larger dollar donations on the outside. My buddy Daniel Craig, my James Bond brother, we reached out to him, he pitched in, Jay-Z pithed in, Spike Lee, but it's been evenly split with those smaller dollar donations. It's been fairly democratic in that way. As you said, AT&T and Warner Media now have pitched in. There are first major corporate sponsors. That is great. We need those big corporate neighbors to step in and support, too, because, you know, we're all in this together. What serves any one of us, whether it be individuals or corporations, serves the whole. Going back to your point, though, about those 5,000 meals, yeah, we did that, but we had to pull back on that. We were serving a dozen NYPD police precincts, but that was going through our resources at a pace that was too quick, so we've gone back to about 2,000 meals. But I like to keep this going for at least, you know, three or four more weeks, however long it takes, so we can be a bridge back to something that resembles commercial viability for the small businesses so that we can perhaps bridge a gap to craft better suited public funding for them as well. The PPE did not really shape their needs in a way that was helpful.</s>CUOMO: Yeah.</s>WRIGHT: We are here for as long as it takes.</s>CUOMO: Government is never going to be enough. People always have to do things for themselves. This is a beautiful demonstration of that. The website is on the screen, www.brooklynforlife.org.</s>CUOMO: The more money they get, the more manpower they can have, the more meals they can deliver. Jeffrey Wright, I've always been a fan.</s>WRIGHT: Chris, can I say one last thing?</s>CUOMO: One last thing to you, go ahead.</s>WRIGHT: You're talking about the need for these hospitals. I'm going to give you an example. We provide 600 meals per day. The reason being was that they had a private company that is running the cafeteria. They had to downsize during the outbreak. So, that cafeteria was only providing meals for patients. So you had hospital staff there caring for the most sick that did not have access to food at all. And, of course, all the restaurants in the area are closed. So, this is a critical need that was provided by these small businesses. And so according to science, supporting the health care workers is not only helping their own economic interests but looking out for the needs of the front line fighting this thing on our behalf. So, I just wanted to make that clear. This isn't a luxury for folks. This is a necessity.</s>CUOMO: Right. Hundred percent understood. It's a great idea in the head. It comes from the heart, and I love it. Everybody who can get involved should. I'm going to do it as soon as I'm done with the show. Jeffrey Wright, I didn't think I could love you more, but now I do. Thank you for coming on, brother. Good luck with the efforts.</s>WRIGHT: I appreciate it, brother. Thank you, Chris. Keep well.</s>CUOMO: All right. I will see you soon. Jeffrey Wright. All right, we'll be right back.