Mila Kunis and Sgt. Scott Moore attended the Marine Corps Ball in Greeneville, N.C., on Friday night — Moore being the Afghanistan veteran who shall be forever known as the guy who started it all.
In addition to his veteran status, Moore is a different kind of American hero for starting this year's wave of celebrity invites to the USMC's big night, but he didn't do it alone. On Thursday, he credited "wingmen" Justin Timberlake and Dan Lamothe of the Military Times for their help getting his invitation to Kunis.
The "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" actress arrived at the venue around 2:30 p.m. Friday and was promptly whisked away from media eyes, said local station WNCT, which also noted that Moore's recently returned 3rd battalion, 2nd Marines had lost seven in Afghanistan. It's that sort of sacrifice that's remembered each year for the Marine Corps' birthday.
Despite the presence of Hollywood hotties shining a spotlight on this year's celebrations, "the Marines and sailors know what the night is about," spokesman Capt. Scott Sasser told the Greenville Daily Reflector. "That's been the focus the whole time." A good time was had by all, Sasser said.
Timberlake in particular was moved by his experience as Cpl. Kelsey De Santis' date in Virginia last weekend, calling attention to the dedication and sacrifices of the Marines in a post on his personal blog.
Following in Kunis and Timberlake's footsteps, Kristin Cavallari hit the ball in Temecula with Camp Pendleton's Lance Cpl. Jonathan Burkett on Thursday, after getting permission from beau Jay Cutler, of course. Betty White couldn't get the time off work and had to pass, as did Scarlett Johansson, who sent a case of bubbly to cover for her absence at the Nov. 10 ball held in Georgia.
And can we give a nod to Military Times' Lamothe, wingman extraordinaire? In a blog post Wednesday, he explained that while searching for bootleg clips of Marines in Afghanistan, he'd cracked up when he found Moore's video invite to Kunis. He posted it on the Battle Rattle blog, only to have it go viral — resulting in a Fox reporter bringing it up to Kunis and Timberlake days later in a "Friends With Benefits" interview. And the rest is history.
Since going viral, the video has been watched nearly 4 million times.
Nice work.
Mila Kunis enjoys Marine Corps Ball; Sgt. Moore thanks wingmen
