Los Angeles — Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr became an Academy Award winner on Sunday when “All the Empty Rooms” earned the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film.
The 35-minute production, which follows families who have preserved the bedrooms of children killed in mass shootings, lists Kerr as an executive producer. The longtime advocate for stricter gun laws said his involvement was limited to lending his name and helping to promote the project.
“They called me about a year ago and asked if I would like to be an executive producer, which meant basically put my name on it and help promote it,” Kerr told reporters Monday. “It was a no-brainer, just given my passion for the issue.”
Director Joshua Seftel accepted the statuette at the Dolby Theatre and then invited Gloria Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jackie was killed in the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, to address the audience. “Gun violence is now the No. 1 cause of death in kids and teens,” Cazares said. “We believe that if the world could see their empty bedrooms, we’d be a different America.”
Kerr, 60, was not at the ceremony because the Warriors were playing Sunday night. He learned of the win through a family group text and noted he will not receive a personal Oscar statue.
A nine-time NBA champion as player and coach, Kerr also guided USA Basketball to Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Games. He is the second Warrior connected to an Academy Award in recent years; Stephen Curry served as an executive producer on “The Queen of Basketball,” which captured the same Oscar category in 2022.
Kerr held recent screenings of “All the Empty Rooms” for Netflix and detailed his support for the film in a Los Angeles Times op-ed earlier this month, praising its respectful portrayal of grieving families.
Source: ESPN
