Stressing the importance of the arts, of foreigners, and of the principled press, Meryl Streep called out Donald Trump in her Golden Globes acceptance speech last night without ever mentioning him by name. Winning the Cecil B. DeMille Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment, she thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press — technically the “most vilified segment of society” — with a croaky voice, and reminded watchers that, “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. If you kick them all out, there’ll be nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts… which are not the arts.”
Meryl went on to drive home the privilege and responsibility people in the arts have to, “enter the lives of people different to themselves and let you feel what that feels like,” before referencing one performance in particular last year that stunned her, that sunk its hooks in her heart, and not because it was good. “It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter… disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
At tonight’s #GoldenGlobes we honor Hollywood legend Meryl Streep with the prestigious Cecil B. Demille Award. pic.twitter.com/dxpeCDNXY6 — Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 9, 2017
On the verge of tears Meryl closed with a quote from her friend, the dearly departed Carrie Fisher, and told the room and the wider world to; “take your broken heart, make it into art.”
Of course, because a certain President-elect can’t help himself, he responded in a telephone interview this morning saying that while he hadn’t watched the awards, he was “not surprised” to have been attacked by “liberal movie people,” and referred to Meryl as a “Hilary lover.” He then turned to Twitter with the following, entirely inappropriate comments:
Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
“groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
Credits
Text Frankie Dunn