Jane Fonda, who was married to the late CNN founder Ted Turner, urged the audience at a live event in New York City to “sign a petition to tell your state attorneys general to block the Paramount Warner Brothers merger. This is a direct attack on free speech, freedom of expression.”
“You’re going to get a very thinned out kind of culture. It’ll be flattened. Freedom of expression, independence, and diverse news. I have a personal stake in CNN. I don’t want to see it go that way. You know what I’m saying,” she said at Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert For The First Amendment. It was held at The Town Hall on West 43rd Street, a 1920 venue built as the headquarters for the League for Political Education, and also livestreamed.
The event, presented by the Committee For The First Amendment, unspooled as UCF fighters traded jabs on the White House lawn for Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. The mixed martial arts league has a sweeping rights deal with Paramount.
Julia Roberts, Robert De Niro. Bette Midler, Ayo Edebiri, Tessa Thompson, Joy Reid and more joined activists, civil rights and religious leaders to excoriate ICE and defend free speech and the separation of church and state. Patti Smith perforrmed People Have The Power. Rufus Wainright sang Somewhere Over The Rainbow, whose lyricist Yip Harburg was blacklisted from working in Hollywood during the McCarthy era.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it had cleared Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent of CNN. Paramount owns CBS, whose news division has been in near constant turmoil since the Ellisons took the reins. The deal still requires approvals from the EU and UK.
Attorneys General can’t block a merger but they can sue to try to block it. California’s State AG has been investigating the combination and and is said to be preparing a case.
“Good evening everyone, and welcome to all of you who couldn’t get tickets to the White House cage fights,” said De Niro.
“I’m devoted to our Constitution’s First Amendment … I’m pretty close to being a free speech absolutist, even for speech I don’t like, and there’s plenty of that around. So when I hear something I don’t like, I use my own free speech to respond,” said the actor and outspoken Donald Trump critic.
“Let me give you an example. When I hear Trump say, as he did a few days ago, ‘I don’t think about Americans financial situation’ … I say, ‘Shut the f–k up!’” He repeated that several more times, winding up the crowd.
Even the phrase ‘we all love our country’ is “stuck in my throat, because our country isn’t so lovable right now … Loving our country is starting to sound like an abused spouse saying they love their abuser.”
“I can’t love a country that starts stupid and inhumane wars … that takes health care away from millions of people … that sends out masked militias to shoot citizens in the streets, torture our neighbors and separate families. I can’t love a country that’s led by a racist, misogynist, xenophobic tyrant. Let me just say it, I can’t love the country that’s led by Donald Trump and a sycophant Congress.
“For most of my life, I did love this country. The United States of America welcomed my immigrant ancestors, it gave me, my family, and my fellow citizens such rich opportunities and extraordinary freedoms. I want to love my country again. I want my country back. That’s why I stand with the Committee for the First Amendment.”
English (US) ·