In the aftermath of Jimmy Kimmel’s brief suspension from the late-night talk show circuit, a group of entertainment figures is coalescing around the cause of free speech at the lead of actress Jane Fonda by relaunching the Committee For The First Amendment.
The Committee’s relaunch, announced Wednesday, is focused on protecting free speech in the entertainment industry.
The prior version of the Committee, launched in 1947, was founded as opposition against the House Un-American Activities Committee, which targeted people with ideologies deemed dangerous to the US. Several major actors and actresses, and others in the filmmaking industry, founded and joined the Committee. The short-lived Committee attracted controversy due to its support for the Hollywood Ten, who were professedly Communist despite the committee’s non-Communist policy for membership.
The newly launched Committee features not only people involved in the filmmaking industry, but figures across other entertainment and artistic industries. So far, 600 figures have shown support for the initiative.
In a statement, the Committee likens the McCarthy era to the supposed hostile climate of free speech today, claiming “those forces have returned.”
“The formation of this Committee is not a warning shot. This is the beginning of a sustained fight,” the statement declared.
“This Committee was initially created during the McCarthy Era, a dark time when the federal government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs,” the statement continued. “They targeted elected officials, government employees, academics, and artists. They were blacklisted, harassed, silenced, and even imprisoned.”
Jane Fonda, who lived through the Red Scare and the ensuing national tragedies and conflicts that unfolded decades after, expressed in a letter to fellow committee members that “this is the most frightening moment of my life.”
“When I feel scared, I look to history. I wish there were a secret playbook with all the answers — but there never has been. The only thing that has ever worked — time and time again — is solidarity: binding together, finding bravery in numbers too big to ignore, and standing up for one another,” she wrote in a statement, according to NBC News.
Though this Committee is being established in 2025, its relaunch may be considered untimely. US celebrities have come under fire within the past decade for expressions of free speech valid under the First Amendment, including being censured by their peers and the public, and even fired by their employers.
In 2021, actress and martial artist Gina Carano compared contemporary US conservatives to Jews during Nazi Germany, and was promptly let go from Lucasfilm. The company alleged “her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”
NBA player Kyrie Irving was also obstructed from playing basketball with the Brooklyn Nets during the league’s 2021 season due to his non-vaccination status. The outrage toward Irving’s unpopular views only increased when he made a social media post linking to a controversial film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.”
