Hollywood A-listers including Jane Fonda, Julia Roberts, Bette Midler, Tessa Thompson and Lily Gladstone appeared at an advocacy concert on Sunday night to celebrate free speech.
Organised by the Committee for the First Amendment, the variety show—featuring music, speeches, and poetry—took place at The Town Hall in New York City, drawing some of the country’s most outspoken activists to criticise President Donald Trump and the current political climate.
Jane Fonda, who was one of the co-executive producers of the Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment, was instrumental in reviving the Committee in 2025 after Trump won a second term.
“Showing up is an act of hope, and you all give me hope,” the 88-year old actor and career activist said on Sunday night. “Those rights are for everyone, everyone. And we must defend them for everyone. Even if we don’t agree with them. You know, it’s not about Democrat or Republican, or left or right. It’s about right or wrong. And it is wrong. It is wrong for people to be attacked and called terrorists for exercising their rights and freedoms.”
“It’s time for Americans all across the country, all across the political spectrum, who care about these freedoms, to stand up, creatively, nonviolently, to defend these rights, while we can. And we must do this now. Because if we don’t, we’re not gonna have any rights to defend.”
Actor Lily Gladstone, who shot to fame in 2024 after becoming the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”, spoke about her experience growing up in the US as a Native American.
“For many Americans, this era of division, of stolen speech, broken promises, families torn apart, of risking all you have for the simple right to exist as you are – this may feel unprecedented,“ Gladstone, who has Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce heritage, said.
“You may think, ‘How did we get here?’ For the first peoples of this land, unfortunately, this has been ongoing since the birth of this country as we know it today.”
“Perhaps the question is not ‘How did we get here?’ — It’s ‘how are we still here?’ And more importantly, ‘How do we move forward?’”
Julia Roberts recited a moving and powerful poem from former national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman titled, “For Renée Nicole Good”, which honoured the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot and killed by ICE in Minneapolis in January.
“Renée Nicole Good was not a symbol,” Roberts said at the concert. “She was an American woman, a queer woman, who was doing the very best she could do to be good in an unjust world. I am honoured to celebrate her life and legacy, because the life she gave is our responsibility to carry.”
Leading advocates and singers performed powerful ballads, including Patti Smith, who sang her 1988 protest anthem “People Have the Power, Rufus Wainwright, who sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, and Bette Midler who sang a rousing version of “All You Fascists Bound to Lose” which contained new lyrics including: “We’re gonna win the midterms, we’re coming for his ass.”
“I’m so thrilled that you understand,” Midler said. “I feel like I’m part of a community that is so bright, so intelligent, so well meaning, and so desperate for justice. I’ve been around a long time, but I’ve never been through what we’re living through now.”
Singer and drag queen Peppermint, star of RuPaul’s Drag Race, spoke about the importance of continuing to fight for LGBTQ+ issues, especially during Pride month.
“ We live in a time where the spotlight is dangerous for so many trans Americans,” she said. “Trans children who should be living openly in their truth are intimidated by a government that cares more about censoring their bodies than feeding them.”
Other celebrities who appeared at the concert include legendary actor Robert De Niro, popular children’s educator and YouTube creator Ms. Rachel, television host Joy Reid and star of The Bear, Ayo Edebiri.