Celebrities have reacted to Donald’s Trump’s conviction last week, after the former US president was found guilty on all 34 felony counts in his hush money trial. Across social media, public figures weighed in on the first-ever criminal conviction of an American president.
Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter wrote: “34 is now my favourite number”, to which Star Trek actor George Takei commented: “We should start referring to him as 34 instead of 45.”
Barbra Streisand, a vocal Democrat, chose to focus on the importance of November’s election, writing: “Convicted felon Donald Trump is blaming the judge, the jury and New York for being found guilty on 34 counts. He will never accept accountability for his crimes. Americans must not allow this felon anywhere near the White House again.”
Trump is still expected to run for president again this November; a fact that author Stephen King seemed to be reminding the public with his X post: “The Republican candidate for President is a convicted felon.”
Cynthia Nixon posted a screenshot of the evening’s New York Times headline (“TRUMP GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS”) with a series of party-faced emojis.
The former New York gubernatorial candidate and Sex and the City star has been a vocal advocate against Trump for years. In 2018, at a Human Rights Campaign’s New York gala, Nixon said Trump was “trying to divide our community the way he divided and conquered our country, by slicing it up and setting it against itself.”
Comedian Kathy Griffin, who had her contract terminated by CNN in 2017 after posting a picture of herself holding up the fake severed head of Trump, reacted to a commenter saying that Trump is “finally getting in trouble for his mobster antics” by writing: “Thank you for saying that. It was awful and he is awful. TEARS OF JOY”.
Katy Perry reacted with a simple “LFG” — an acronym for ‘Let’s f***ing go”, while Wine Country actor Ana Gasteyer joked: “In retrospect I’m glad I decided not to drink every time they said guilty because I’d never have made it through making dinner.”
Hollywood legend Bette Midler posted a meme quoting Robert De Niro’s remarks outside the Manhattan courthouse where closing arguments were taking place in the hush money trial.
“Donald Trump doesn’t belong in my city…” the post quoted. “We New Yorkers used to tolerate him when he was just another grubby real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot… but a person like Trump can’t run the country. That doesn’t work. And we know that.”
De Niro was speaking as a guest on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, where he called Trump a “tyrant”.
“Now he’s promising to use our own military to attack U.S. citizens,” De Niro said. “That’s the tyrant, that is the tyrant he is telling us he will be, and believe me, he means it.”
“When Trump ran in 2016 it was like a joke,” he added. “This buffoon running for president. No, never could happen. We have forgotten the lessons of history that showed us other clowns who weren’t taken seriously until they became vicious dictators. With Trump, we have a second chance, and no one is laughing now.”
“He doesn’t belong in my city. I don’t know where he belongs, but he certainly doesn’t belong here. We New Yorkers used to tolerate him when he was just another grubby real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot, a two-bit playboy lying his way into the tabloids, pretending to be a spokesperson for himself. He was calling it as himself for himself, to fool the press into inflating his net worth. A clown, but this city is pretty accommodating. We make room for clowns….We tolerate it, it’s part of the culture, but not a person like Trump who will eventually run the country.”
After his fiery remarks, The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation rescinded De Niro’s invitation to its Celebration of Service to America Awards in Washington DC next week, where the 80-year old actor was going to be awarded with the Service of Leadership Award, the NABLF’s highest individual honour in recognition of charitable work and public service.
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill posted a screenshot showing the word: “GUILTY” in red 34 times.
Hamill has also been on the campaign trail supporting Biden, regularly posting about the president on his social media. Last month, he visited the White House, calling Biden the “most legislative successful president in my lifetime.”
“I want to say once again how grateful I am [to be invited],” he said. “It just shows you how one person can be so influential and so positive in our lives and, again, thank you so much.”