Ben Platt Honored With Inspiration Award on Final Day of GLSEN RESPECT EVERYWHERE

Today, GLSEN, the leading education organization focused on ensuring safe and inclusive schools for all students, honored Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Ben Platt with the Inspiration Award on the final day of RESPECT EVERYWHERE, a series of innovative fundraising initiatives presented in short videos running from May 18-22.

Platt's The Politician co-star Judith Light delivered a moving tribute, as he accepted the award and offered words of support for LGBTQ youth. He talked about using his art, whether that be his music or acting work, to tell a wide variety queer stories and offer young queer people a way to hear and see themselves reflected back. The full video is now available to watch HERE.

In another special video, Eliza Byard, Executive Director of GLSEN, offered her thanks for an incredibly successful RESPECT EVERYWHERE week! The initiative raised $600,000 and donors still have the opportunity to give back online or via a new prizeo campaign with actor Leslie Jordan!

Other GLSEN RESPECT EVERYWHERE honorees this week included Kalen Allen, Jennifer Beals, Charlie Carver, Educator of the Year Tray Robinson, and Ilima Intermediate School's Rainbow Royales GSA.

Special videos recognizing the outstanding work of each honoree are available to watch on glsen.org/respecteverywhere.

Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Ben Platt just announced that the highly popular Netflix series by Ryan Murphy, The Politician, will release its second season on June 19th. Ben stars and serves as the executive producer on the series - his performance in season 1 earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the show received a nomination for Best Comedy. Coming off the heels of his widely acclaimed Finneas-produced single, "So Will I," Ben will release his highly anticipated solo concert Netflix Special "Ben Platt: Live from Radio City Hall" along with a deluxe version of his album, Sing To Me Instead on May 20th. Additionally, Ben starred in the film, Run This Town alongside Damian Lewis and Nina Dobrev, which premiered at last year's SXSW film festival to rave reviews and was released Spring 2020. It was recently announced that Ben will be starring alongside Beanie Feldstein in the film adaption of the Stephen Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along directed by Richard Linklater.

Ben is an Atlantic Records recording artist and dropped his critically acclaimed debut album, Sing To Me Instead in 2019 along with a new single called, The Rain, which he debuted at last year's US open. No stranger to the big screen, Ben is known for his role as Benji Applebaum in Universal Pictures' smash hits Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2. He has also starred in Ricki and The Flash alongside Meryl Streep and in Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk as well as guest starred in the Will & Grace reboot for NBC. He also filmed Broken Diamonds directed by Peter Sattler

Platt won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance as Evan Hansen, as well as the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance, making him the youngest actor to win the coveted award. Additionally, Dear Evan Hansen won the Tony award for Best Musical and the cast recording took home the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album as well as a Daytime Emmy Award for their performance on The Today Show.