Jane Fonda revives McCarthy-era committee to defend free speech in Hollywood. Photo / Getty Images
Actor and activist Jane Fonda has relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment first backed by her father, Henry Fonda, in 1947, to fight against what the group calls a “co-ordinated campaign” from the Trump administration to curb freedom of expression.
The committee announced the move in a statement on Wednesday, drawing parallels between the White House under President Donald Trump and the McCarthy era during the 1950s when Americans were targeted with allegations over their political beliefs and activities.
“Those forces have returned. And it is our turn to stand together in defence of our constitutional rights,” the group said in the statement which did not mention Trump by name. “The federal government is once again engaged in a co-ordinated 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. 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.”
It vowed “to defend free speech and expression from this assault”.
The statement was backed by more than 550 people including some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry spanning generations, including Barbra Streisand, Billie Eilish, Ben Stiller, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Keaton, Natalie Portman, Pedro Pascal, Spike Lee and Whoopi Goldberg.
The rallying of high-wattage stars echoes the first time the committee was established in 1947, backed by Henry Fonda, a Democratic supporter, and others such as Ava Gardner, Katharine Hepburn and Frank Sinatra. At the time, the group opposed a “smear” attempt on the film industry by the House Committee on un-American Activities – a group established in 1938 to investigate private citizens, organisations and government employees suspected of having communist ties.
Around this time, Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, also rocketed to national attention when he claimed hundreds of communists had infiltrated the US Government amid Cold War anxiety. McCarthy’s investigations into alleged subversion and espionage in the early 1950s including as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations saw his name become shorthand for the practice of using indiscriminate allegations to root out individuals for their alleged behaviour. He was later censured by the Senate for behaviour “contrary to senatorial traditions”.
The decision to revive the committee comes amid a maelstrom of activity that has raised fears of a new era of censorship and retribution orchestrated by the Trump administration, including ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel following his comments about the shooter who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk, National Guard deployments to states despite opposition from local officials and the withholding of university funding.
Trump administration officials have characterised their moves as clamping down on hate speech, protecting law enforcement officers and combating discrimination.
In an emailed statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson referred to Fonda as “Hanoi Jane” – a reference to her controversial visit to North Vietnam while campaigning against the Vietnam War, and said she was “free to share whatever bad opinions she wants. 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.”
Jane Fonda is an Oscar winner and longtime political campaigner who has endorsed Democratic presidential candidates and has her own political action committee designed to support candidates with environmentally friendly policies. She has also been an activist on climate change and been subject to surveillance by law enforcement agencies.
She said in a video posted on social media the response from those wanting to be involved shows “our industry is ready to mobilise and to resist autocracy, to resist attacks on our fundamental freedoms”.
“We’re artists, we’re creatives. Freedom of expression is essential to what we do,” she said. “We can’t just sit back and let this happen.
“This isn’t a creeping totalitarianism, this is fast-moving consolidation of autocracy, and that means we have to move fast,” she said.