Charlize Theron hosted the fifth annual Block Party for her Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project on Saturday night, where she got real about how in 2025, “the world feels like it’s burning.”
Theron took the stage to kick off the event — which raises funds to help CTAOP support the health and safety of youth in her native South Africa — on the Universal Studios backlot, deadpanning, “I think we might be the only people who did not get an invite to the Bezos wedding. But that’s OK because they suck and we’re cool.”
She went on to thank attendees for “taking the time to be a part of this, especially when the world feels like it’s burning, because it is. Here in Los Angeles, in the U.S. and across the globe, we’re moving backwards fast. Immigration policy has destroyed the lives of families, not criminals; women’s rights are becoming less and less every day; queer and trans lives are increasingly being erased; and gender-based violence is on the rise. This isn’t just policy, it’s personal.” As the crowd clapped she added, “Yeah, fuck them.”
Theron herself immigrated to the U.S. as a teen while pursuing a career in Hollywood, and was deported at 19 for overstaying her work visa; she was later allowed to return and became a U.S. citizen in 2007. The star also called out “foreign aid cuts [that] have brought HIV and AIDS programs in my home country of South Africa to an absolute standstill. All of this is not just detrimental, it’s dangerous; people will lose their lives — many have already, unfortunately, and at a frightening rate. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see this kind of unnecessary suffering.”
“But what we also see, what we cannot miss, is the resistance. There is hope, there is power in all of us standing up, organizing, protesting, voting, and caring for each other, and refusing to accept that this is the new normal,” she continued. “That spirit of resistance, justice and care for each other, that’s the spirit that drives the work at CTAOP. And although our focus is on the youth in Southern Africa, what we’re really talking about here tonight is that all lives should be valued. Everyone should have the right to be healthy and safe and should be able to be seen.”
Theron’s Old Guard 2 costars KiKi Layne, Henry Golding and Marwan Kenzari were also in attendance at the event, as Theron and Layne took part in a live version of Hot Ones with host Sean Evans and one highest bidder following the night’s fundraising auction. Reneé Rapp stopped by to perform two songs, 2023’s “Tummy Hurts” and her new single “Mad.”
CTAOP was founded in 2007, and over the last 18 years has reached over 4.5 million youth and given nearly $15 million to organizations in South Africa.