Clockwise from high left: Jane Fonda, John Legend, Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Billie Eilish, and Spike Lee. Led by Fonda, lots of of celebrities have signed on to a letter in protection of free speech and free expression, re-launching a McCarthy-era committee.
Neilson Barnard; Neilson Barnard/Getty Photographs for The Recording Academy; David Livingston; Dia Dipasupil; Theo Wargo/Getty Photographs for Karl Lagerfeld; Tim P. Whitby/Getty Photographs for The Pink Sea Worldwide Movie Pageant/Getty Photographs
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Neilson Barnard; Neilson Barnard/Getty Photographs for The Recording Academy; David Livingston; Dia Dipasupil; Theo Wargo/Getty Photographs for Karl Lagerfeld; Tim P. Whitby/Getty Photographs for The Pink Sea Worldwide Movie Pageant/Getty Photographs
On Wednesday, over 550 celebrities relaunched a bunch first organized through the post-World Warfare II Pink Scare: the Committee for the First Modification. Their intent is to face up in what they name a “protection of our constitutional rights,” including: “The federal authorities is as soon as once more engaged in a coordinated marketing campaign to silence critics within the authorities, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the leisure business.”
The present group is headlined by actor and activist Jane Fonda — whose father, actor Henry Fonda, was one of many early members of the primary Committee for the First Modification, which was based within the Nineteen Forties to oppose the notorious Home Un-American Actions Committee, by way of which the federal authorities accused many high entertainers of being communists or communist sympathizers and derailed their careers.
Different members of the newly re-formed committee embrace filmmakers Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins, J.J. Abrams, Patty Jenkins, Aaron Sorkin and Judd Apatow; TV present creator Quinta Brunson; musicians Barbra Streisand, John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Gracie Abrams and Billie Eilish; comedians Tiffany Haddish and Nikki Glaser; in addition to actors Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Pedro Pascal, Natalie Portman, Viola Davis and Ben Stiller. One other signatory is actor Fran Drescher, who final month ended a time period because the president of the SAG-AFTRA union, whose membership consists of NPR’s journalists.
Within the letter, the authors write: “This Committee was initially created through the McCarthy Period, a darkish time when the federal authorities repressed and persecuted Americans for his or her political opinions. They focused elected officers, authorities staff, teachers, and artists. They have been blacklisted, harassed, silenced, and even imprisoned. The McCarthy Period ended when Individuals from throughout the political spectrum lastly got here collectively and stood up for the rules within the Structure towards the forces of repression.”
“These forces have returned. And it’s our flip to face collectively in protection of our constitutional rights,” the letter continues. The group says that defending free speech and free expression is just not a partisan problem.
In a letter inviting her friends to affix the re-established group, Fonda writes: “I am 87 years outdated. I’ve seen battle, repression, protest, and backlash. I have been celebrated, and I have been branded an enemy of the state. However I can inform you this: that is essentially the most horrifying second of my life. Once I really feel scared, I look to historical past. I want there have been a secret playbook with all of the solutions — however there by no means has been. The one factor that has ever labored — time and time once more — is solidarity: binding collectively, discovering bravery in numbers too huge to disregard, and standing up for each other.”
