Jane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment, a free-expression coalition originally formed by Hollywood stars in 1947 to oppose the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Hollywood blacklist.
Fonda, joined by more than 800 members of the entertainment industry including Spike Lee, Billie Eilish, Pedro Pascal and others announced the revival this week, citing concerns about renewed government efforts to “silence critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academia and the entertainment industry.”
The group’s statement warned that “those forces have returned,” recalling what it called “a dark time when the federal government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs.”
In a video posted Wednesday, Fonda, 87, said the goal was not to form another organization but to “grow a movement” centered on “creative, nonviolent noncooperation.” She pointed to actions like boycotting Disney+ after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel as an example of protest through participation.
The original Committee for the First Amendment included actors such as Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, who traveled to Washington in 1947 to oppose anti-Communist hearings targeting the film industry.
While the committee’s new statement didn’t mention President Trump directly, the White House responded, with spokesperson Abigail Jackson saying, “As someone who actually knows what it’s like to be censored, President Trump is a strong supporter of free speech, and Democrat allegations to the contrary are so false, they’re laughable.”
Organizers also shared a restored version of the 1947 radio broadcast “Hollywood Fights Back!” in which Garland famously declared, “It’s one thing if someone says we’re not good actors. That hurts. But we can take that. It’s something again to say we’re not good Americans.”
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