“All of us have the human right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Meryl Streep took this oft-quoted sentiment and made it feel revolutionary at a recent fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
As Variety reports, Streep gave a “barn-burner of a speech” in which she condemned Donald Trump and his horrifying first few weeks in office, rallied support for LGBTQ rights, and urged the audience to use their disappointment and anger to inform the resistance movement.
The three-time Oscar winner spoke out about the United States’ government’s shift towards the far-right while accepting the HRC’s Ally for Equality Award. Suggesting that this is no time to be fed-up or in despair, she vowed, “We’re not going to go back to the bad old days of ignorance and oppression and hiding who we are.” Streep tearfully added, “We owe it to the people who have died for our rights, and who have died before they even got their own.”
Streep also used her platform to address the backlash her Golden Globes speech provoked and how she feels a responsibility to use her influence for the greater good. Referring to herself as “overrated,” “over-decorated,” and “over-berated,” she said, “It’s terrifying to put the target on your forehead,” according to Talking Points Memo. “And it sets you up for all sorts of attacks and armies of brownshirts [a reference to early Nazi militias] and bots and worse, and the only way you can do it is if you feel you have to. You have to! You don’t have an option. You have to.”
In a surprising turn, Streep took a moment to reflect on the silver lining of the current political cloud. “If we live through this precarious moment, if [Trump’s] catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn’t lead us to nuclear winter, we will have much to thank our current leader for,” she declared. “He will have woken us up to how fragile freedom is.”
Streep — who currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations (20) — recently received the Cecile B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes, where she spoke out against Trump. “Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose,” she said in her acceptance speech.
A supporter of The Writers Lab for Women Screenwriters Over 40, Streep’s recent acting credits include “Ricki and the Flash” and “Suffragette.” She is currently shooting “Mary Poppins Returns.” Streep is up for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in “Florence Foster Jenkins,” about a woman whose singing aspirations are greater than her actual talent. The Oscars will take place February 26.
