Clockwise from above on the left: Jane Fund, John Legends, Ben Stiller, Wupu Goldberg, Billy Eilish and Spike Lee.
Neilson Barnard; Neilson Barnard/Getty images for the Academy of Recording; David Livingston; Dia Dipasupil; Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld; Tim P. Whitty Images for the Red Sea International Film Festival/Getty Images
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Neilson Barnard; Neilson Barnard/Getty images for the Academy of Recording; David Livingston; Dia Dipasupil; Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld; Tim P. Whitty Images for the Red Sea International Film Festival/Getty Images
On Wednesday, more than 550 celebrities resumed a group, first organized during the post-world war in II Red Scary: The The first amendment committeeTheir field is to become the fact that they call the “protection of our constitutional rights”, adding: “The federal government is again involved in a coordinated campaign for the silence of critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academic circles and the entertainment industry.”
The current group was entitled by actor and activist Jane Fund, whose father, actor Henry Fund, was one of the early members of the first committee on the first amendment, which was founded in the 1940s to oppose the notorious Committee on Non American activities of the House of RepresentativesThrough which the federal government accused many leading artists of that they were communists or communist sympathetic and tore their careers.
Other members of the recently reformulated committee are filmmakers Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins, J.J. Abrams, Patti Jenkins, Aaron Sormin and Jadd Apatou; Creator of the television show Quinta Branson; The musicians Barbra Streisand, John of Legends, Janel Monae and Billy Eilish; Comedics Tiffany Haddish and Nikki Glazer; As well as actors Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Pedro Pascal, Natalie Portman, Viola Davis and Ben Stiller. The other signing is actor Fran Dresher, who last month has completed the deadline as the president of the Sag-AFTRA trade union, whose membership includes NPR journalists.
In a letter, the authors write: “This committee was originally created in the McCarthy era, in a gloomy time, when the federal government suppressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs. They are aimed at elected officials, civil servants, scientists and artists. The Constitution is against the forces of repression. “
“These forces returned. And our turn to confront together in defense of our constitutional rights, ”the letter continues. The group says that the protection of freedom of speech and freedom of expression is not a partisan problem.
In a letter inviting her peers to join the restored group, the Fund writes: “I am 87 years old. I saw war, repression, protest and a negative reaction. I celebrated, and I was branded by the enemy of the state. But I can tell you this: this is the worst moment in my life. Again and again – this is solidarity: to bind together, to find courage in numbers, too large to ignore, and defend each other. ”
