Cynthia Littleton On The Air

Bonnie Hammer reins in the rhetoric for the ADL

Bonnie Hammer went a few steps beyond the garden-variety charitable kudos acceptance speech Tuesday night at the Anti-Defamation League's Humanitarian Award at the org's annual showbiz gala fundraiser.

NBC Universal's prexy of Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios "reined in the rhetoric" by citing, in detail, incidents from her own experience as a mother that taught her a lot about the pernicious subtleties of prejudice in kids who are raised in a progressive environment.

She noted that her brood is a blended family consisting of a daughter, Kimae, from her husband Dale Heussner's previous marriage who is part Malaysian and part Caucasian; and her son, Jesse, now 14, who shares his mother's Russian-Jewish heritage and Dale's Midwestern WASP roots.

At an extended family dinner seven years ago, Jesse declared himself to be at least "one-eighth Chinese," judging from the diversity around the table. "That line brought down the house," Hammer recalled.

A year or so later, Jesse regaled his mother and father at dinner with a joke he'd picked up on the playground, which was crudely racist and utterly intolerant of Chinese cultural differences, Hammer recalled. The jolt reminded her of the importance of being vigilant and maintaining a zero-tolerance policy against stereotyping and expressions of ethnic bias even in its most seemingly innocuous forms (i.e. no brushing it off with "oh, he's just a kid").

Hammer was saluted by the ADL for spearheading USA Network's Emmy-winning "Erase the Hate" public service campaign in the 1990s during her first tour of duty at the now top-rated cabler. More recently, she's championed USA's "Character's Unite" initiative designed to promote the importance of diversity in all aspects of life. Dule Hill and James Roday, stars of USA's drama "Psych," emceed the dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel (which also doubled as a polling place on Tuesday).

As always, the evening included a witty tribute reel, full of pics and clips of the guest of honor sporting bygone hairdos and retro fashions that weren't at the time.

(Pictured above: Bonnie Hammer and U Studios prexy Ron Meyer)

Bonnie Hammer on the move, again, at NBC U

Bonnie Hammer's footprint at NBC Universal continues to grow.

News that caught many in town by surprise out of the Peacock today is that in order to keep Hammer in the fold for a new multi-year pact, NBC Universal has given her oversight of scripted cable production -- cutting Universal Media Studios in half, basically -- and as well as oversight of a bunch of its fledgling networks like Sleuth, Chiller and Universal HD. She exchanges the mouthful of a title of prexy USA Network/Sci Fi Channel for the slightly streamlined prexy, Cable Entertainment and Cable Studio, as reported by Variety's Michael Schneider (news first broke on the L.A. Times' website).

Rewarding Hammer with more turf comes as no surprise; her USA Network and Sci Fi Channel are among the brightest jewel's in NBC U's crown. She's highly regarded by NBC U topper Jeff Zucker. We know she's been on short lists to conquer other fields within the conglom. What is a little surprising is that her gain this time around would come partly at the expense of NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chairmen Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman and Universal Media Studios prexy Katherine Pope. Not that those three don't have their hands full with the ongoing rehab of NBC proper (two words: "Bionic Woman"), but as we all know, execs tend to get fussy about losing turf.

Another immediate question is if Hammer's bump could have a ripple-effect within USA Network. In January, Sci Fi channel marketing guru Dave Howe was boosted from exec vp and general manager to prexy of Sci Fi Channel. There's already insta-speculation that a similar promotion could be in the works for one of Hammer's hard-working lieutenants at USA.

(Pictured above: Bonnie Hammer in December at the L.A. premiere of Sci Fi miniseries "Tin Man," with a new-model Toto.)