Scooter Braun to be Honored by Anti-Defamation League for Nova Festival Exhibit

Music mogul Scooter Braun will be honored by the Anti-Defamation League for his efforts in bringing the Nova Music Festival Exhibition to U.S. audiences.

The exhibition makes its Los Angeles debut in a sprawling studio space in Culver City on Aug. 21, after a successful run in New York City, where 113,000 people experienced it.

Featuring tents, abandoned belongings, charred vehicles and chilling video, the exhibit offers visitors a walk-through recreation of the Oct. 7 massacre at a trance rave in Re’im, Israel, on the Gaza border, at the hands of Hamas militants.

Of the 4,000 people gathered for the fest that day, 405 were killed and 45 more were kidnapped and remain kidnapped as the war in Gaza rages on.

“The entire community was silent,” Scooter told The Hollywood Reporter in June of the entertainment industry’s response to the Nova massacre. “I just was really upset, and I said, ‘I need to do something about this. They need to hear their voices.’” 

On a post-Oct. 7 visit to Israel, Braun was led to a ramshackle altar to the Nova dead and marveled at its up-close view of bullet-pierced porta-potties and the Nova bar, still covered in smashed bottles. “I immediately go, ‘I need to bring this to New York and L.A. People need to see this,’” he recalled.

“Since Oct. 7, Scooter Braun has used his platform and voice to share stories of survivors, advocate for the return of hostages and to educate his followers and the public about the horrific events that day,” says Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “At a time when some were trying to explain away or even deny the atrocities that took place at the Nova Music Festival, Braun was working tirelessly to ensure this exhibit was seen by countless people across America, giving them the painful but essential experience of staring directly into the face of hate and finding the resolve to fight it.” 

Braun’s efforts will be commended at the 2024 ADL In Concert Against Hate event, held Nov. 18 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The annual concert and award ceremony recognizes “celebrities and everyday heroes who have played a significant role in standing up to hatred, injustice and bias across society.”

The first ADL Concert was held in 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust.