Celebrities, Meryl Streep send strong political message at Golden Globes

Many Hollywood actors are not shy about their political affiliation. In a night full of glitz, glamour, and many bottles of champagne, the Golden Globes went political. Not only did host Jimmy Fallon take a few digs, a number of actors accepting their awards did as well – none more poignant than Meryl Streep.

The night started with host Jimmy Fallon taking a few digs. Fallon has received mixed reviews over his performance as host. Some of his better jokes relied heavily on the current political climate and our soon-to-be President, Donald Trump.

Fallon joked that the Golden Globes are “one of the few places left where America still honors the popular vote” (Fact check: the Golden Globes are voted on by foreign press). Later, after referencing the Game of Thrones cast, questioned “what would it have been like if Joffrey would’ve lived? Well, in 12 days we’re gonna find out.” Even later he pointed at nominee for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Manchester by the Sea, as being “the only thing from 2016 that was more depressing than 2016.” He also joked that Meryl Streep’s character of the “world’s worst opera singer” in Florence Foster Jenkins “turned down performing at Trump’s inauguration.”

Amid his other jokes, misplaced Chris Rock impression, and teleprompter glitch to start of the show, Fallon’s comments were unimpressive.

There were, however, many impressive parts of the show. La La Land‘s sweep of seven awards (beating current record holders One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Midnight Express), the many noteworthy fashion choices, and of course, the speeches.

Tracee Ellis Ross won for her role in the sitcom Blackish. She dedicated her award to “all the women, women of color and colorful people whose stories, ideas, thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important…I want you to know that I see you.”

Donald Glover also gave an impressive speech while accepting his award for Best Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical for Atlanta. He credited actors for helping children reach for their dreams. He said, “I grew up in a house where magic wasn’t allowed so being here is like magical to me. Every time I saw a movie or Disney movies or heard your voices or saw you, I was like, oh, magic is from people…We’re the ones who kind of, in a weird way, tell a story or a lie to children so they do stuff that they never thought was possible.”

The biggest speech of the night came from Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award winner Meryl Streep. Streep has been nominated for a record breaking 30 Golden Globes with 8 wins to her name. Streep, interestingly enough, never mentioned Trump by name. She did however, give him credit for one of the most stirring performances she’s seen all year. Streep said:

An actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us, and let you feel what that feels like. And there were many, many, many powerful performances this year that did exactly that. Breathtaking, compassionate work.

But there was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head, because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.

She went on to point out that the Hollywood Foreign Press is made up of three words, all belonging to “the most vilified segments in American society right now. Think about it: Hollywood, foreigners and the press.”

Streep concluded her speech with a call to support the press:

We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call him on the carpet for every outrage. That’s why our founders enshrined the press and its freedoms in the Constitution. So I only ask the famously well-heeled Hollywood Foreign Press and all of us in our community to join me in supporting the Committee to Protect Journalists, because we’re gonna need them going forward, and they’ll need us to safeguard the truth.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has seen a large spike in website traffic and donations following these comments.

Trumps response, of course, followed hours later via Twitter:

Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him…….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

“groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

According to FactCheck.org, the reporter that Trump mentions never changed his story about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.