The third annual Gold Gala event took over the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday evening (May 11), celebrating the 2024 A100 list, which counts down the 100 most impactful Asian Pacific changemakers in culture and society over the past year.
The night featured a performance from 2023 A100 honoree Saweetie, who received the first-ever Billboard Gold Music Honor recognizing her boundary-pushing musical accomplishments. “I be shouting out my mama in my songs, my Filipino queen, through my food vlogs, through sharing old pictures of my childhood, I feel like those are the way I connected with my fans and let them know where my roots come from,” the rapper told Billboard on the red carpet on how she incorporates her Filipino and Chinese heritage into her career.
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo received Gold Ally Honor for her work to advance inclusive representation in front of and behind the camera. “This community has been very, very good to me. I hope to do more work with them and spend more time and hopefully connect more,” she told Billboard.
Other honorees included the cast and creators of Emmy-winning Beef, who receive the Gold Icon Honor and Lucy Liu, who earned the lifetime achievement Gold Legend Honor. Hello Kitty’s 50th anniversary was also commemorated with the Gold Generation Award.
The Gold Gala was followed by the inaugural Billboard x Gold House Founders Party, which featured a headlining set from producer/DJ Steve Aoki, as well as a special performance from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 winner Nymphia Wind, a karaoke room presented by Rakuten Viki and an additional set from DJ Hu Dat.
In celebration of the Gold Gala, we compiled all the star-studded photos from the red carpet, featuring striking outfits and homages to the celebrities’ Asian heritage. See the photos in the gallery below.
