Jane Fonda is not taking the Trump administration’s efforts to control speech lying down.
This week, the celebrated actress relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment, an organization first founded by her father, Henry Fonda, to protect people’s free-speech rights by pushing back at governmental control in a public fashion.
The elder Fonda launched the committee during the McCarthy era, a period of time in the late 1940s and 1950s when speech was curtailed – most often that of left-leaning Americans, from government officials and creatives to academics – by intimidating, interrogating and even imprisoning outspoken individuals. The crackdown was led by Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy under the guise of protecting the U.S. from communist spies.
“The 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,” Fonda said in a statement to Variety. “Those forces have returned. And it is our turn to stand together in defense of our constitutional rights.”
The topic of free speech has figured big in American discourse of late, following the temporary cancellation of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel from his ABC show in light of comments he made on the air about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. FCC chair Brendan Carr initially stood by the move, stating on a podcast that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Carr continued during the interview: “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action …, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” He later walked those comments back, stating that Kimmel’s briefly-lived cancellation was a matter of ratings, not repression.
But Fonda’s concern remains, and is shared widely. Not just by everyday citizens, either – luminaries like Quinta Brunson, Pedro Pascal, Kerry Washington, Natalie Portman, Whoopi Goldberg and Aaron Sorkin have all signed on to the committee’s cause.
“Free speech and free expression are the inalienable rights of every American of all backgrounds and political beliefs — no matter how liberal or conservative you may be,” said Fonda. “The ability to criticize, question, protest, and even mock those in power is foundational to what America has always aspired to be.”
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