Jodie Foster Makes Rare Appearance, Calls For Resistance To Trump Travel Ban
Jodie Foster is calling for resistance to President Trump’s travel ban. Foster, who is known for being one of the more private and elusive celebrities in Hollywood, took to the podium of the UTA’s United Voices rally on Friday to sound her battle cry.
The United Talent Agency is known for throwing its annual Oscar party that draws in a vast number of celebrities for a pre-Oscar celebration, but this year the UTA decided to use its notoriety for political purposes instead. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the UTA announced it would be using its time and money to promote a refugee rally, a cause Jodie Foster was willing to get behind.
While many celebrities have spoken out against President Trump’s administration and policies such as Meryl Streep’s infamous Golden Globes tirade as previously reported by the Inquisitr, Jodie Foster isn’t typically about social or political issues.
For instance, rumors had circulated for decades regarding Jodie’s sexual orientation but it wasn’t until 2013 that the 54-year-old acknowledged she was a lesbian. And Foster’s acknowledgement wasn’t so much a coming out as it was a mocking of the public’s need for celebrities to divulge their status.
“I hope that you’re not disappointed that there won’t be a big coming out speech tonight because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the stone age in those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family and co-workers and then gradually and proudly to everyone who knew her–to everyone she’d actually met,” Jodie said. “But now apparently, I’m told that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private lives with a press conference, a fragrance, and a prime time reality show,” Foster mocked to the amusement of the audience.
Jodie Foster’s lack of interest in getting involved in politics to this point may have stemmed from her connection to the assassination attempt on President Reagan. In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to kill President Reagan, reportedly as a means of getting Jodie Foster’s attention. Hinckley reportedly even attended writing classes at Yale where Foster was a student and would slip poems under Jodie’s door.
Jodie was only 19-years-old at the time of Hinckley’s stalking and it certainly seemed to send her into a lockdown from media attention. Foster would continue to have a lucrative career as an actress and a director, winning two Best Actress Oscars for Silence of the Lambs and The Accused, but Jodie wasn’t one to go out for media attention unless it was a necessity. That is what makes Foster’s call to action all the more stunning.
Acknowledging that she doesn’t like to be the face of political activism, Jodie Foster stepped in front of the crowd at the UTA gathering yesterday to make a statement according to CNN.
“This year is a very different year. It’s time to show up,” Foster said. “When we get to celebrate excellence in film like we’re doing today, like we’re doing this week, we can’t forget that this industry is in the business of humanism. It’s that compassion that makes us strong.”
Jodie was joined by Michael J. Fox and Keegan-Michael Key at the gathering. Fox, of course is noted for promoting Parkinson’s awareness, education, and research. Key’s show Key and Peele is known for its left political leanings, challenging racial issues. But for someone like Jodie Foster to step out into the public eye and make such a bold statement, it makes one wonder if we have entered a new political dimension.
Do you think it makes a difference when someone famous who is relatively quite about politics like Jodie Foster suddenly has something to say or is she just going along with the status quo of Hollywood? Tell us what you think!
[Featured image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]
