More than 550 actors, directors, writers and musicians — including Jane Fonda, Billie Eilish, Pedro Pascal, Gracie Abrams, Spike Lee, Viola Davis, Barbra Streisand, Ben Stiller, John Legend, Janelle Monae, and Natalie Portman — have teamed up to relaunch the Committee for the First Amendment, a group originally formed in 1947 during the Red Scare. In its original incarnation, the group stood in opposition to the House Un-American Activities Committee’s Joseph McCarthy-era interrogations of Hollywood figures suspected of communist sympathies.
“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,” the group wrote in a statement Wednesday. “Those forces have returned. And it is our turn to stand together in defense of our constitutional rights. The federal government is once again engaged in a coordinated campaign to silence critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment industry. We refuse to stand by and let that happen.”
Actor and activist Jane Fonda, whose father, Henry Fonda, was among the original committee’s members, is leading the effort. In a letter to industry colleagues released Wednesday, she wrote that the group aims to present “a united front against government censorship, intimidation, and fear.” Other signatories include Aaron Sorkin, J.J. Abrams, Whoopi Goldberg, Anne Hathaway, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Larry David, Bill Maher, Julianne Moore, Glenn Close, Helen Mirren, Barry Jenkins, Judd Apatow, Kerry Washington, Mark Ruffalo, Sean Penn, Ted Danson, Billy Crystal, Nicolas Cage, Quinta Brunson, and Fran Drescher.
The committee’s revival comes amid growing tensions between the entertainment industry and the Trump administration over free speech, which peaked with ABC’s temporary suspension last month of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Kimmel’s commentary around the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
On Sept. 17, hours after Carr appeared on a conservative podcast calling Kimmel’s remarks “truly sick” and warning that Disney faced “a very, very serious issue,” ABC announced it was suspending the late-night show indefinitely. Two major broadcasting groups that own ABC affiliate stations, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, had already announced they would preempt the program at the time.
President Donald Trump praised the suspension and suggested on social media that NBC should fire late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. After a widespread outcry from Hollywood and boycott threats from consumers, ABC resumed airing Kimmel’s showron Sept. 22, and Nexstar and Sinclair eventually returned to carrying the show.
The original Committee for the First Amendment brought together major stars of its era — Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra — who produced radio broadcasts and traveled to the Capitol in protest. Despite their efforts, the Hollywood Ten — writers and directors who declined to answer questions about their political affiliations — were jailed for contempt of Congress and effectively banned from working in Hollywood for years. The blacklist effectively ended by the early 1960s.
In their statement released Wednesday, the newly reformed committee said 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.” The group has not yet announced specific plans for action beyond the joint statement.
