Ryan Murphy encourages youths to follow in Larry Kramer’s footsteps

Director/producer Ryan Murphy has urged young fans to make a difference in the world by drawing inspiration from The Normal Heart playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer and becoming champions of good causes. The Glee and American Horror Story director escorted ailing Kramer to the stage as he picked up the Outstanding Television Movie honour for his recent TV adaptation of The Normal Heart at the Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday (25Aug14).
Murphy gave special recognition to the film’s actors, Julia Roberts and Mark Ruffalo, for lending their star-power to the project – about Kramer’s efforts to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in the early 1980s – to help move it into production, almost 30 years after Barbra Streisand obtained the rights to the 1985 play with a view to turning it into a small screen movie.
Stepping up to the mic, Murphy said, “We’re only here because of one person, and that’s Mr. Larry Kramer. We did this for him.
“Special thanks to our wonderful cast, particularly a shout out to Julia Roberts and Mark Ruffalo, who got this movie made. After 30 years, it took the superpowers of Erin Brokovich and The Incredible Hulk to finally get this thing alive.”
Murphy then used the second part of his acceptance speech to encourage young humanitarians to lead the charge for change.
He continued, “We’re gonna use the rest of our time to ask young people watching to become Larry Kramers, to find a cause that you believe in that you will fight for, that you will die for. Go online, look up amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research), look up the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.”
Murphy wrapped up his speech by dedicating his Emmy to “the hundreds of thousands of artists who have passed from HIV/AIDS since 1981”, adding, “Your memory and your passion burns on in us, and this is for them. Thank you.”
The filmmaker’s moving tribute prompted transgender Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox to take to Twitter.com after the speech and applaud Murphy for his words of wisdom, writing, “#RyanMurphy’s speech made me tear up. Bravo.”