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Eddie Vedder and Jim Parsons were among the stars who came together to remember Leslie Jordan at a benefit show.
The ‘Reportin' for Duty: A Tribute to Leslie Jordan' event was held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday night (19.02.23) to pay homage to the actor – who died in October at the age of 67 – and famous faces from the world of entertainment turned out to remember him and raise money for charity.
Comedian Leanne Morgan hosted the four-hour show and she kicked off proceedings by telling the audience: “Leslie was a bow-tie-loving Southern boy whose his biggest accomplishment was being unapologetically himself and I'm sure that he's all smiles knowing that he's brought together the most eclectic group of people to ever grace the Opry stage.”
Country star Tanya Tucker – who previously collaborated with Jordan on a gospel album – then performed ‘Amazing Grace' and ‘Delta Dawn'.
‘The Big Bang Theory' star Jim Parsons later offered a tribute to the actor, telling the audience being around Jordan was “was like being around an angel”.
He added: “It also was like being around a devil. Listening to Leslie tell stories, sometimes he made me think of the cute guys I met as a young man in my first gay bars down south – and sometimes he reminded me of my grandma. Leslie transcended classification while being utterly specific and unique. He was extraordinary because he was so human.”
Jim's former TV co-star Mayim Bialik, who worked with Jordan on ‘Call Me Kat', said of him: “I was not his boss. I was just one of the actors lucky enough to share a stage with Leslie, to watch Leslie work, to watch Leslie play… veryone wanted to be around him to soak up the light that was Leslie.”
Justin Long was seen giving a video tribute in which he said the late star thought of all his fans as friends, adding: “I know this because I once… referred to people who followed him [on Instagram] as his followers, and that was the only time he ever took offence to anything I said. He quickly corrected me. He said, ‘I actually don't consider them my followers. I consider them my friends.'”
The event, filmed for a Circle Network TV special, ended with a performance by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder who performed the track ‘Maybe It's Time' from 2019 film ‘A Star Is Born' with Lukas Nelson. He followed it with a rendition of Pearl Jam hit ‘Just Breathe'.
The rocker said of Jordan: “I've been missing on him so much and in the last two days, to be around people that knew him and loved him, and we can share this story of loving him and all the ways he inspired us, it's the best we've felt in a long, long time.”
The event was held to raise fund for the EB Research Partnership – an organisation which supports research into a rare genetic skin disorder called epidermolysis bullosa.
