that you couldn t have on network television. - peoplele are realllly tryg to do something adventurous. [both gasp] alall: channelel 7, shame e on. - this is morere a celebrbration of c culture and opening the doors and allowing america to come on i inside. - therere s alwaysys somethg on t television,n, and sosome of it may b be ber than we e deserve. - [laughs]s] that wasas cool. [d[dramatic musisic] - listen to it. oh! [crowd cheering] they know when it hits the bottom, it ll be 1990. good-bye to the 80s in. all: ten, nine. all: eight. eieight! eight! eight! - oh, will this horribible year never enend? - when the 90s begin, we re starting to see a lolot of expererimentation. [gununshots] all:l: [quickly]y] seven, six, , four, three, two, , one! [cheerining] - anand the simimpsons, i ththink, in sosome sensess was s inspired by not necessarily a hatred o of television bubut a distrurust of a a lot of ththe ways in whichch televisioion was s talking toto us. - tv res
we hope that some of these stories have inspired you to get involved and do your part because you, too, can be somebody s hero. thank you and good night. [ cheers and applause ] what s it like being billie jean king? i have no idea. i think since i was young, i mean i told my mother at 7, mommy, mommy, i m going to do something great with my life. i know it. i can feel i it. being billie jean king means knknowing from the beginning sh was destined for greatness. i knew the first t time i we off to getet free inststructionh in lonong beach, i i knew at t d of thahat session n i wanted t the numbmber one tenennis playe the worlrld. h how old werere you? i was 1 11. that w was only ththe second t picked up a racket. she quickly fell in love with the sport but also quickly noticed deep inequities in tennis that reflected the same about ththe world. at t 12, i was s playing ata los angegeles tennisis club. all the big tournamements were therere. i i was sittining i
sandwich. he tore off a corner of it, a piece of bread. he ate it, and he gave the rest to his dog. they ve taught me a lot too. i ll close by saying this. an act of kindness can change your day. change someone s day. an act or gesture of kindness can change somebody s life. thank you. [ applause ] what a night. we want to thank everybody for joining us. thank you, laura. oh, my goodness. thank you for holding my hand. that was beautiful. can you imagine the level of generosity to say give back immediately? this tells you why we do this. thank you so much. you can support all of our honorees right now by going to cnnheroes.com and click donate. each donate will be met dollar for dollar. if you know someone as amazing as tonight s honorees, you can nominate them to be a cnn hero in 2024 because officially, anderson, nominations are now open. we hope that some of these stories have inspired you to get involved and do your part because you, too, can be somebody s hero. t
kramer: take one! jerrrry: no! krkramer stop p it! jajason alexanander: and boom, ththere you gogo, a situtuation comemedy. sheldodon: bazingaga! tim allelen: this twtwenty -t-three minututes of magic. lucycy: it s soo tasty, too! tracy morgan: you fell in love with these characters. arnold: whwhat chu talkin about willllis? geri jewell: we need to laugh at ourselves. joey: yoyou hide my y clothe, i m wearining everything you ow. constance e wu: lalaughter o opens you u u. haley:y: okay ready? sururpri! [screamingng and chaosos] mara b brock akil:l: the thinings that wewe might bee afraid to o talk aboutut. bobow: some pepeople thatt were supposed to protectct us d didn t do the right t thing. tim reid: like racism. son: so ththe cops are the babad guys? dre: yeses. bow: n no. kim m fields: clclass wars ralplph: money!! i m a a millionairire. dadan levy: anand gender diverersity. sarah:h: dad? mamaura: hi girls.s. ted dansnson: you cacan reach id rereally touchch people s
- and you say we shouldn t worry about bin laden have e you forgototten - in musicic there wasas no oppositionon to that m messag. but when t the war o on terror began. [enginine roaring]g] [shotsts firing] and we re talking about invading countries, well, then music had a lot to act in opposition to. - the didixie chicksks are thep countrtry touring g act of thehr despite the firestorm unleashed by their words during the first days of the war in iraq. - when n natalie maiaines sai, you u know, w we re so asashamed of or prpresident riright now, their r career tooook a sesevere beatiting. - someme protestorors took a tractor r and their r fet to smash the group s cds. - if you want to feel some good old fashioned american pride, look no further than the uproar ovover the dixixie chicks.. - and how w they can s say, i i m ashameded that the prpresident s s from texa comeme on, man.. - - screw themem, right? say it.