SAG Awards 2017: ‘Veep’ Star Julia Louis-Dreyfus Hits Out At President Trump’s Muslim Ban In Her Acceptance Speech
Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus joined other SAG award winners on Sunday night attacking President Trump for his controversial decision to ban entry to the United States from seven majority-Muslim countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Dreyfus used her acceptance speech to remind the audience that she herself is the daughter of an immigrant, she also branded President’s Trump temporary immigration ban as “un-American” and mocked the recently elected President in the process.
According to Digital Spy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the first award of the night, Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role in Veep. She used her acceptance speech to mock Trump’s election victory, saying “Whether the Russians did or did not hack the voting of tonight’s SAG Awards, I look out upon the million – or maybe million-and-a-half people – in this room and say ‘this award is legitimate, and I won!'” Dreyfus’ joke was in reference to suspected Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election and controversy over the crowd size at Trump’s inauguration.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus delivers emotional SAG awards speech against Trump immigration ban https://t.co/GGfaIY7JiI pic.twitter.com/zHYyzOoK9R
— The Hill (@thehill) January 30, 2017
Dreyfus quickly moved her acceptance speech in a more serious direction, however. In reference to President Trump’s decision to ban entry to the United States from several Muslim countries, Dreyfus reminded the audience that she’s the daughter of an immigrant herself and told a story of how her father fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France.
According to the Huffington Post, the Veep star also used her speech to share a statement from the Writer’s Guild’s statement against the executive order, which read “Our guilds are unions of storytellers who have always welcomed those from other nations, and of varying beliefs, who wish to share their creativity with America. We are grateful to them, we stand with them, we will fight for them.” As to be expected, that statement was echoed by many other members of the Guild as they collected their awards.
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As aforementioned, Dreyfus wasn’t the only star to hit out at President Trump in her acceptance speech. Host Ashton Kutcher set the tone for the ceremony with a pro-immigration speech, greeting “everyone at home and everyone in airports that belong in my America.”
He was joined by Emma Stone, who was picking up an award for La La Land, saying it was a really tricky time for the country and Mahershala Ali who spoke about his own Muslim faith whilst picking up an award for his role in Moonlight. Furthermore, Orange is the New Black star Taylor Schilling received cheers from the audience for describing the show’s cast as “a diverse group of people, representing generations of families who have sought a better life here,” seemingly attacking the President’s decision to temporarily halt immigration from certain countries.
Here are all of the celebrities who took a political stand at the SAG Awards (Spoiler: There are quite a few) https://t.co/6PnlOGjGxp pic.twitter.com/2IO1hV7pr5
— HuffPost UK Entertainment (@HuffPostUKEnt) January 30, 2017
Just one week after his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order on Friday halting the United States’ refugee program for 120 days, indefinitely banning all refugees from Syria and suspending all nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the country. The move has received criticism from not only Hollywood stars, but a number of political figures from within Mr Trump’s own party, the Democrats and leaders across the globe.
Veep, which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President turned President Selina Meyer, will return for its fifth season in 2017 and stars Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh, Sufe Bradshaw, Kevin Dunn and Gary Cole alongside Dreyfus.
[Featured Image by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images]
