Charlize Theron used her time accepting the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual Women in Entertainment occasion offered by Lifetime to acknowledge the ladies who’ve supported and impressed her, together with the following era of feminine leaders.

Seth Rogen launched his Long Shot co-star with a joke-filled speech, riffing on the quiche being served on the occasion (“these women deserve a better breakfast, I’m just going to say it”) and calling out scheduled presenter Kim Kardashian for not attending: “I have seen every episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I know she’s not doing something more important than this.”

Shifting to Theron, Rogen recalled feeling “incredibly intimidated to work with her, not just because of how talented she is.”

But, Rogen mentioned of the motion star, “I was literally, physically intimidated to be around her, because she murders people in every movie she does.”

And he insisted that they had been true buddies as a result of “our movie bombed and we stayed friends. We know for sure that we can’t help each other career-wise.”

“I’m so glad we get to keep hanging out because Charlize is fun. She’s a fun person to hang out with, maybe too fun at times,” he added, suggesting he forgot among the instances they frolicked as a result of they had been having a lot enjoyable.

And, Rogen praised Theron for being “incredibly charitable.”

“Her morality comes through with such ease and clarity,” he mentioned.

Taking the stage after Rogen, Theron started by praising, and poking enjoyable at, the award’s namesake, former Paramount Pictures CEO Lansing.

“You’re a powerhouse” Theron mentioned of the primary lady to be a studio chairman. “I mean, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, The Truman Show, your name has been behind some of the all-time classics.”

But then she joked, “So I just have to ask, Sherry, what did I do to piss you off because you put me in Aeon Flux?!”

Made for a funds of $62 million, the Paramount film grossed solely $53 million worldwide and has a dismal 9 p.c freshness score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Of the challenge, Theron recalled in this week’s THR cover story that she “knew” the motion film “was going to be a fucking flop.”

“I knew it from the beginning,” she mentioned. “I definitely knew we were in trouble. I wasn’t a producer on it, and I didn’t really have the experience to say what I believe Tom Cruise has maybe said for the past 20 years, which is, ‘Shut this shit down, get four more writers on it and let’s figure this out.’ Instead, I’m going, ‘Oh God, I’ve just got to get through this day, I have bronchitis, but let’s keep shooting.’ Now I imagine all these male actors going, “Shut it down for six months!” And it’s like, fuck, nobody instructed me that was an possibility.”

After her Aeon Flux barb, Theron praised Lansing and different feminine leaders for “kick[ing] the door of opportunity down.”

And, she mentioned, “this next wave of women are tearing down the whole fucking building.”

She highlighted how she has been seeing extra feminine administrators, producers, division heads and actresses opening their very own manufacturing firms, name-checking fellow honoree Issa Rae and presenter Margot Robbie.

But past the proliferation of feminine management in Hollywood, Theron mentioned she was actually impressed by her work along with her eponymous Africa Outreach Project.

“If we’re talking leaders, the young people who are involved in the community organizations we support in South Africa are some of the most inspiring people I have ever encountered,” she mentioned. “In the face of what we would consider adversity or concrete ceilings they see opportunity and room for change, growth and inclusion.”

Reflecting on the origins of CTAOP, Theron mentioned, “I believe it to my core, it is our interconnetedness that makes us stronger but we can’t truly commit to solidarity if we don’t confront the brutal inequities that we, all of us, perpetuate. … If we really want to see change in this world, we need to listen to and be led by those closest to the challenges.”

And she mentioned she was inspired by her honor to maintain striving towards greatness.

“I take this leadership award less as a mark of accomplishment, but more as a challenge to keep doing the work,” she mentioned.

She added, talking to the opposite girls within the room, “I want us to keep each other accountable, use each other as resources and push each other to keep using our voices and platforms for something greater than ourselves.”

She closed by paying tribute to the ladies who “surround and support” her, citing CTAOP government director Ashlee George, who helped elevate consciousness and funds “for the safety of women and children who were facing domestic violence” through the COVID-19 pandemic; her Denver & Delilah producing companion Beth Kono; and her mother, who co-parents her youngsters and, Theron added, “is not afraid to tell me when she hates one of my movies. And that helps too! Sometimes we need to be told when we suck.”

“Leadership is not a one person game, especially for women,” she mentioned. “We need community, not just to build one another up, but to help pass the baton to the next generation of brave women who will undoubtedly be up here one day, telling us how they solved the climate crisis or how they became the first American president.”

THR‘s Women in Entertainment gala was sponsored by Best Buy, Cadillac, Spotify, eOne, FIJI, Gersh and SAG-AFTRA and in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, Chapman University,  College Access Partnership and Loyola Marymount University.