As reported on The Verge.
By Jacob Kastrenakes
Even Seth Rogen acknowledges that most of us would expect his top political cause to be the legalization of marijuana. While giving testimony at a Senate hearing yesterday, Rogen took plenty of time to joke about his role in vulgar comedies and the perception of him as immature and lazy. But Rogen was actually there to speak on a cause far more important to him: Alzheimer’s research. Rogen delivered a heartfelt and often hilarious speech to the hearing about his experience with a relative who has the disease and about the advocacy that he’s done through his charity, Hilarity for Charity.
“IT HURTS THE CAUSE TO SEE THAT MANY EMPTY SEATS.”
Rogen strongly criticized the state of Alzheimer’s research and the public perception of people with the disease. “That’s right,” Rogen said, “the situation is so dire that it caused me — a lazy, self-involved, generally self-medicated man-child — to start an entire charity organization.” His testimony came as part of a larger Senate hearing about the state of Alzheimer’s research.
But despite hosting the hearing, it appeared that the Senate still wasn’t that interested in the cause. After the hearing, Rogen chided lawmakers on Twitter for not attending or leaving partway through. “Not sure why only two senators were at the hearing,” Rogen writes. “Very symbolic of how the government views Alzheimer’s. Seems to be a low priority.” One senator later tweeted at Rogen to thank him for the testimony, only for Rogen to reply asking why the senator hadn’t actually stuck around to hear it. “Symbolically,” Rogen writes, “it hurts the cause to see that many empty seats.”