Actor and activist Jane Fonda took to the SAG Awards stage last night and told her peers to wake up and put their money where their mouth is. While accepting the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, the Barbarella and 9 to 5 icon addressed the U.S.’s tumultuous political climate, the importance of unions, and ‘woke’ culture.
Urging the crowd in attendance as well as those watching from home to fight hatred with compassion, the 87-year-old said, “What we, actors, create is empathy. Our job is to understand another human being so profoundly that we can touch their souls.”
Fonda also demolished the disturbing backtracking of progressive social politics and the changing tides of culture seen during Trump’s second administration: “make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke.” Amid entertainment behemoths and tech giants bowing down to the Republicans in power, she added, “By the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.”
Jane Fonda using her SAG Lifetime Achievement speech to praise unions…queen tbh
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) February 24, 2025
"I'm a big believer in unions. They have our backs, they bring us into community, and they give us power. Community means power, and this is really important right now when workers' power is being… pic.twitter.com/8c9jond1n3
It’s normal for these kinds of speeches at awards shows to draw ire from people who are suspicious of celebrities truly understanding the everyday voter issues of the average person, unable to relate to the general public while they sit in their Californian mansions. Fonda, however, is no stranger to being outspoken about politics, or the minorities impacted by regressive legislation and changing tides.
She has been arrested on several occasions for protesting, one time even spending her birthday behind bars. She also reels in celebrity friends to aid in the publicity for different social movements, using her privilege for good instead of denying it exists. And that’s not even mentioning the life-altering home video workouts she filmed in the 80s.
She’s not scared of putting the effort into direct confrontation either, often debating politics with people on the other side of the aisle. In Dec. 2024 Fonda sat down with Bill Maher, and quite frankly made him look like a clown on his own podcast, Club Random. While keeping an air of decorum and good faith in their discussion, Fonda said, “I’m not cynical and I’ve been around longer than you. You could be my son.”
As explained in the documentary Jane Fonda in Five Acts, her outspoken, counterculture, nature has often landed her in hot water with the public, particularly when she infamously visited Vietnam when the U.S. was at war with the nation in the 1970s. But it’s safe to say history has proven her right on that one. Whether her efforts always come off well or not, there has always seemed to be an intention to approach all of humanity with an open heart and to create dialogues.
Fonda also used the moment to praise unions: “this is really important right now when workers’ power is being attacked, and community is being weakened”. She concluded by stating the country is in a “documentary moment” now, implying that choices made today will be scrutinized tomorrow. She also offered encouragement, saying, “There will still be beauty, and there will be an ocean of truth for us to swim in” after. Now, let’s get some of that fiery sentiment in the useless and flaccid Democratic opposition!
Published: Feb 24, 2025 05:13 am