\n<\/p>\n
Jane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment, the McCarthy-era initiative started by her father, Henry Fonda, with a groundswell of celebrity support.<\/p>\n
The new committee, established to protect free speech from government censorship, has the support of over 550 entertainment figures, including: Quinta Brunson, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, Natalie Portman, Aaron Sorkin, Spike Lee, Pedro Pascal, Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Penn, John Legend, Damon Lindelof, Julianne Moore, Janelle Mon\u00e1e, Barbra Streisand, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ethan Hawke, Billie Eilish, Anjelica Huston and Judd Apatow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe McCarthy Era ended when Americans from across the political spectrum finally came together and stood up for the principles in the Constitution against the forces of repression,\u201d Fonda said in a statement. \u201cThose forces have returned. And it is our turn to stand together in defense of our constitutional rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe refuse to stand by and let that happen,\u201d she continued. \u201cFree speech and free expression are the inalienable rights of every American of all backgrounds and political beliefs \u2013 no matter how liberal or conservative you may be. The ability to criticize, question, protest, and even mock those in power is foundational to what America has always aspired to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original committee was co-founded by Henry Fonda in the 1940s, in response to the House un-American activities committee. The House committee, led by senator Joseph McCarthy, accused entertainment figures of being communist sympathizers, derailing many careers and casting a chilling effect on Hollywood.<\/p>\n
Fonda\u2019s new committee arrives as free speech has once again become a rallying cry in Hollywood, following Disney\u2019s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! under pressure from the Trump administration. ABC\u2019s parent company pre-empted Kimmel\u2019s show after Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, threatened to revoke its affiliate licenses over comments Kimmel made about the politicization of the shooting of rightwing commentator Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
After backlash from viewers and the entertainment community, Disney allowed Kimmel to return to air last week. Nexstar and Sinclair, the two companies with affiliate stations that still refused to air the show, ended their boycott after discussions with Disney, allowing Kimmel to return to broadcast on all ABC stations.<\/p>\n
In a letter encouraging her peers to join the initiative, Fonda pointed to her long history as a civil rights activist. \u201cI\u2019m 87 years old,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI\u2019ve seen war, repression, protest, and backlash. I\u2019ve been celebrated, and I\u2019ve been branded an enemy of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I can tell you this: this is the most frightening moment of my life,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen I feel scared, I look to history. I wish there were a secret playbook with all the answers \u2013 but there never has been. The only thing that has ever worked \u2013 time and time again \u2013 is solidarity: binding together, finding bravery in numbers too big to ignore, and standing up for one another.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment, the McCarthy-era initiative started by her father, Henry Fonda, with a groundswell of celebrity support. The new committee, established to protect free speech from government censorship, has the support of over 550 entertainment figures, including: Quinta Brunson, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, Natalie Portman, Aaron Sorkin,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[6338,2217,13387,533,1936,5428,6004,14675,1053,2685],"class_list":{"0":"post-25280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-era","9":"tag-father","10":"tag-fonda","11":"tag-free","12":"tag-group","13":"tag-jane","14":"tag-mccarthy","15":"tag-relaunches","16":"tag-speech","17":"tag-started"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}