Jason Lee can be found all around Hollywood: On the red carpet during 2024 GRAMMY weekend; as host of the Jason Lee Show on REVOLT TV; and on the podcast Hollywood Unlocked with Jason Lee, where he sits down with entertainment powerhouses like Kevin Hart, Cardi B and Floyd Mayweather. Lee’s Hollywood Unlocked media brand has 3.6 million followers on Instagram alone, and his own personal IG has more than 1 million followers. He has also appeared on reality television shows like “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” and MTV’s “Wild’n Out.”
Born in Stockton California, before Lee moved to Los Angeles in the mid-aughts, he was one of the few Black directors at SEIU United Healthcare Workers in California, advocating for workers’ rights and social justice. Now everything is coming full circle for Lee, who recently launched Hollywood Cares Foundation (HCF), which works to empower underserved youth by providing them with adequate resources to participate in mentorship programs, civic engagement, financial literacy courses and more. The foundation’s flagship “I AM READY” initiative aims to teach youth about community programming, as well as to support those who are interested in careers in TV and film with internship opportunities and career advice. HCF’s partners include Students First and Boys and Girls Club.
I connected with Lee over Zoom to find out more about his young foundation, how his work in organized labor influences his philanthropy now, and how he and his celebrity peers are using their platforms to make impact. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you tell me a bit about your early days in NorCal and how they shaped you?
Sure. I’m from a city called Stockton, California, in Northern California, about 43 miles south of Sacramento. I grew up there in the late 1970s, early 1980s. And I was raised by a single mother who fell on hard times and ended up becoming addicted to drugs and eventually homeless. I ended up in foster care; she gave me up at the age of eight. I wrote about all of this in a book called “God Must Have Forgotten Me,” which talked basically about a lot of trials that I’ve gone through in life, but then also the triumphs.
But what I’ve learned, being somebody who’s been in foster care being raised by a single mom, an absent father, having gone through all of those experiences and cutting through them, I learned all the different things I had to go through in order to prevail. And besides having hope, determination and that will to survive, you also have to have mentorship, guidance and definitely seek out therapy and know how to go about even getting that. You have to really tap into that fire that is in all of us at some point in our lives to pursue something greater than ourselves.
And so when I came to L.A., I was kind of moved here as the result of my career working for the labor union. I did a lot of amazing work for healthcare workers for both SEIU and going to work with California Nurses Association. Ultimately, what I loved about being a union leader was creating a platform and organizing people to lead and create messaging to make things greater and fight for the underdog. With the emergence of social media, I started asking, why don’t I just create my own platform and figure it out? And so I did it. And it’s just evolved into a multimedia company with different tentacles that I’m very proud of. I’m doing everything that I want to do and now wanting to create my more purposeful work, so that’s how Hollywood Cares was born, the nonprofit that I launched [in 2022].
What sort of experiences from your labor union background are now informing the way you’re trying to give back and engage with philanthropy?
Well, it’s interesting, because I’m using all my skills as an organizer. Having been in the labor union environment, I understand the power in numbers. You don’t effect change in vacuums. It’s about collaborations, building coalitions, developing a very clear message, and having those foundational principles that help guide you. And so what I’ve been doing is really building on an organizing model. We have identified some really amazing local leaders from different organizations who are volunteering, and our community partner network is really showing our investment in the community by bringing in people who are invested in this initiative.
It’s called the I AM READY initiative, which is really around getting youth ready and prepared: leadership development, financial literacy workshops, being able to instill in them civic engagement and importance of being civically engaged. And then, of course, weaving in entertainment and things that get the youth’s attention, because you know, there’s a very specific mechanic that goes into capturing the attention of young people these days in this TikTok and celebrity-driven world. Our YOC, Youth Organizing Committee, focuses on getting youth to organize their peers. These peer-to-peer conversations are similar to what we would have in the workplace if a union was organizing workers.
What are the biggest needs on the ground right now in Stockton, and how do you hope to tackle them through your initiatives?
Well gun violence, for one. You literally have kids being shot and killed in broad daylight in public. You have a community in the south side of Stockton, where I’m from, that’s a food desert. There are no local grocery stores and access to resources that we take for granted. I can go down the hill right here in Hollywood and get to anything in seconds. Whereas these people who don’t have cars, and who might not even have employment, have to figure out how to get to the other side of town to get basic necessities. So I’m trying to do a deep assessment of what these needs are, making sure that the conversations I have are extremely inclusive of those who are living in their everyday experiences and connecting with people who have a likeminded vision that needs to be youth-focused, youth-led and youth-driven. So far, we’ve been lucky to do that.
One of the other bigger needs that we’ve identified is that while civic engagement is one thing, preparing the next mayor or city council member is another. So we’re also looking at programs where we can instill the values of owning your [whole] community, not just your house, but your community. So we’ve been having conversations with the DNC about how we can get their support and the development of a 501(c)(4). It’s one thing to tell people the problem and get them agitated. But there should actually be a pathway to becoming the change.
Can you speak a bit about the fundraising side? How much money are you putting in? And what is your strategy as far as charity events and other ways to raise funds?
So I’ve probably put in a couple hundred thousand. Hollywood Unlocked is already seeded with a couple of hundred thousand. And then we’ve received some money from nonprofits. We did a dinner [in late November] where we invited 20 friends to donate $20,000 each. The idea is Hollywood Cares, so tapping celebrities that have likeminded interests. We’re talking about a celebrity auction where people can donate things that will cost them nothing, but will help us raise funds.
We’re targeting Black and brown kids and very unapologetically so. The city [of Stockton] is not putting their money where their mouth is, literally, with this movement, but it’s OK. The city money is not the purpose. It’s the [non-financial] support that we would want to see from the city.
How have you been navigating dealing with these politics and challenges bouncing back and forth between L.A. and Stockton?
I mean, how do I communicate to my fans in Africa? I have social media. We have SMS and email blasts, we have an on-the-ground community partners network who are organizing, and now, we have youth who are organizing. I learned a long time ago going back to my labor union days — you have to be able to speak to the hearts of many different people with one message. But the union is not me and I AM READY is not me. Superman is not coming and I say this every time I talk to youth. So it’s all about identifying the young leaders who can organize and lead their groups and teach them how to be their own Superman.
People sometimes see me as an outsider, some celebrity with millions of dollars. Who is this outsider changing our politics? Well, my nephew and nieces still go to school there. My sister still lives there. My whole family still lives there. When I go home to visit, I gotta walk the street. These are concerns that everyone should have. Perception of me isn’t the driving factor. I move based on purpose, vision and passion. I’m excited to see it be nurtured in Stockton in a real way. We’re looking to grow strategically.
Your foundation is called Hollywood Cares. And you’re someone who’s been interviewing and been around celebrities for years. How are your peers reacting to your work? And what are your hopes going forward?
Well I called Tiffany Haddish today and told her I’m gonna do something I’ve never done. I’m so terrified and I’ve never been afraid of anything. I’m know as this fearless, unapologetic, unfiltered, unafraid person. And she’s like, “What?” And I told her, “I’m going to raise money.” She was like it is hard. I told her I’m gonna have this dinner with 20 friends. I’m gonna invite 40. But my goal is 20, and I’m asking each for $20,000. And she’s like, well you got it from me. It was that easy. So I do have people who care.
The reason why I call it Hollywood Cares is because there are so many celebrities who want to do something but don’t know what to do. If it’s Floyd Mayweather coming to Stockton and having a conversation with athletes and their families around sports and signing gloves, or Tiffany Haddish doing a comedy show, or Nick Cannon doing Wild’n Out as an event for our foundation, there are people who will do things to help youth because they believe in it.
Ultimately, I want to overcome my fear of raising money and want to prove to myself that I can do that. I want to prove to my community that we didn’t need city investment. You have to learn how to pivot and keep it moving. And I can’t wait for our partners to see us scale.
