23 Times Celebrities Got Political at Awards Shows
Hollywood award shows typically highlight those with outstanding achievements in entertainment — and their glittering designer gowns on the red carpet. But some celebrity attendees, presenters, and honorees take it as an opportunity to use their amplified voices to bring attention to different political and social issues, as we saw in Lily Gladstone’s historic speech at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards.
From discussing environmental issues to taking up social justice causes, some celebrities make sure that when all eyes are on them, they’re helping other voices be heard. At the 2022 Screen Actor’s Guild Awards, for example, many actors and crew members showed their solidarity with Ukraine amidst the ongoing war. Some wore little accessories of the Ukrainian flag, some spoke about it in their speeches, and just a day before, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also highlighted Ukraine and racial injustice during their speech at the NAACP Awards.
We’ve seen celebrities stand up to injustice on the red carpet with their fashion choices and their well-chosen words, and even more, have taken their moments to accept awards to drive their points home. Read on for the biggest political statements by celebrities at awards shows over the years.
Check out which celebrities got political at awards shows below!
A version of this article was originally published in February 2022.
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Jane Fonda at the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards
Jane Fonda inspired the room when she accepted her Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 SAG Awards. In her speech, she spoke about the wave of hatred in the country, specifically referring to president Donald Trump.
“While you may hate the behavior of your character, you have to understand and empathize with the traumatized person you’re playing, right?” Fonda said. “I’m thinking Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice. Make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke and by the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.”
“Back to empathy, a whole lot of people are going to be really hurt by what is happening, what is coming our way,” she continued. “And even if they’re of a different political persuasion we need to call upon our empathy and not judge but listen from our hearts and welcome them into our tent because we are going to need a big tent to resist successfully what’s coming at us.”
“We mustn’t, for a moment, kid ourselves about what is happening,” she said at the end of her speech. “This is big-time serious, folks. Let’s be brave. We must not isolate. We must stay in community. We must help the vulnerable. We must find ways to project an inspiriting vision of the future.”
Lily Gladstone at the 2024 Golden Globes
Lily Gladstone, who became the first-ever Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Killers of the Flower Moon, moved everyone with her speech.
After rising to the podium, Gladstone began her speech speaking the Blackfeet language, which is an Algonquian language spoken by the Blackfoot or Niitsitapi people, People reports. “I’m so grateful that I can speak even a little bit of my language, which I’m not fluent in, up here because, in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera,” Gladstone continued.
“This [win] is a historic one,” she added. “It doesn’t belong to just me. I’m holding it right now. I’m holding it with all my beautiful sisters in the film at this table over here and my mother, Tantoo Cardinal, standing on all of your shoulders. Thank you.” Historic indeed!
John Legend at the 2022 Grammys
At the 2022 Grammy Awards, John Legend was joined by Mika Newton, Siuzanna Iglidan, and more during a special tribute to Ukraine. The performance came following a message from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, who spoke to the power of music in times of war. Legend then performed “Free” in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
Jessica Chastain at the 2022 Oscars
During her acceptance speech for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the 2022 Oscars, Jessica Chastain called out anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the nation. “We’re faced with discriminatory and bigoted legislation that is sweeping our country, with the only goal of further dividing us,” the actress said in her speech, per People. “There’s violence and hate crimes being perpetuated on innocent civilians all over the world.”
“And for any of you out there who do, in fact, feel hopeless or alone, I just want you to know that you are unconditionally loved for the uniqueness that is you,” she told those watching at home.
Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall at the 2022 Oscars
During the 2022 Oscars opening monologue, Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall shared how excited they were to be hosting the 94th Academy Awards. At the end of their monologue, the trio said to audiences watching in Florida that they were going to have a very “gay” night, following Florida’s legislation regarding LGBTQIA+ rights.
Nick Offerman & Megan Mullally at the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards
During the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards, co-hosts Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally made a statement regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The couple told Russian President Vladimir Putin to “f— off.”
“I think we speak for everyone here when we say that we are hoping for a quick, peaceful resolution,” Mullally said. “Specifically, f— off and go home, Putin!”
“We hope Putin f— off and goes home and to that end let’s all join together with a Spirit Awards salute to Putin,” Offerman added. The pair then stuck up their middle fingers.
Brian Cox at the 2022 SAG Awards
When accepting a SAG award for Succession, one of the stars Brian Cox took his time to highlight how he felt about the war in Ukraine.
“The thing that’s really distressed me is what’s happening in Russia, to my fellow actors and actresses and performers, and writers and critics, they are told under pain of high treason that they cannot say a word about Ukraine,” he said. “And I think that is pretty awful. And I think we should all stand together.”
Prince Harry & Meghan Markle at the 2022 NAACP Awards
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made headlines with their speech at the 2022 NAACP Awards. They touched on subjects like racial injustice, Ukraine, and the future when accepting the President’s Award.
“I couldn’t be prouder that we’re doing this work together. We moved to California, my home state, shortly before the murder of George Floyd,” Meghan Markle shared at the awards show. “For Black America, those nine minutes and 29 seconds transcended time, invoking centuries of our unhealed wounds. In the months that followed, as my husband and I spoke with the civil rights community, we committed ourselves and our organization, Archewell, to illuminating those who are advancing racial justice and progress.”
Marlon Brando & Sacheen Littlefeather at the 1972 Academy Awards
Marlon Brando shocked the world when he not only declined his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather but sent activist Sacheen Littlefeather in his place to discuss Native American rights.
Littlefeather read the controversial note Brando wrote, saying “The motion picture community has been as responsible as any for degrading the Indian and making a mockery of his character, describing his as savage, hostile and evil.”
Sally Field at the 2007 Emmys
During Sally Field’s acceptance for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series for Brothers & Sisters, she had an anti-war speech planned about the Iraq War, saying, “And let’s face it, if mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddammed wars.”
Vanessa Redgrave at the 1978 Academy Awards
While accepting the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Julia in 1978, Vanessa Redgrave went on a rant about “Zionist hoodlums.”
The same year, she narrated a documentary called The Palestinian, and Israeli nationalists apparently burned effigies of her in response. She used this speech to call them out, saying, “I salute you, and I thank you, and I pledge to you that I will continue to fight against anti-Semitism and fascism. Thank you.”
Al Gore at the 2007 Academy Awards
Former Presidential nominee Al Gore took the time to discuss climate change when accepting the award for Best Documentary for An Inconvenient Truth.
In it, he said, “My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started with the possible exception of the will to act. That’s a renewable resource. Let’s renew it.”
Sean Penn at the 2009 Academy Awards
When Sean Penn accepted his award for Best Actor in Milk, he took the opportunity to shed light on gay rights, specifically saying how anti-gay protestors needed to re-evaluate themselves.
“Those who voted for the ban against gay marriage” should “sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame … if they continue that way of support,” he said. ‘We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.”
Leonardo DiCaprio at the 2016 Academy Awards
When Leonardo DiCaprio finally won the Oscar for The Revenant in 2016, he took the time to talk about the planet and climate change.
“We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would be most affected by this,” he said. “For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.”
Maggie Gyllenhaal at the 2015 Golden Globes
Back in 2015, Maggie Gyllenhaal took home a Globe for her role in The Honourable Woman, dedicating her speech to discussing gender inequality.
“When I look around the room at the women who are in here and I think about the performances that I’ve watched this year, what I see actually are women who are sometimes powerful and sometimes not; sometimes sexy, sometimes not; sometimes honorable, sometimes not,” she said.
Susan Sarandon at the 1993 Academy Awards
When Susan Sarandon presented the award for Best Editing alongside Tim Robbins in 1993, she took the time to discuss the U.S. government’s internment of HIV-positive Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Bay.
“On their behalf, and on behalf of all the people living with HIV in this country we would like to ask our governing officials in Washington to admit that HIV is not a crime, and to admit these people into the United States,” she said.
‘Transparent’ Creator Jill Soloway at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards
Transparent creator Jill Soloway accepted the award for outstanding directing at the 2016 Primetime Emmys and spoke up about transgender rights. They said, “We don’t have a trans tipping point yet, we have a trans civil rights problem.”
Richard Gere at the 1993 Academy Awards
When Richard Gere presented at the 1993 Academy Awards, he used his platform to reach out to the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping about Tibet.
“If something miraculous, really kind of movielike, could happen here,” he said, “where we could all kind of send love and truth and a kind of sanity to Deng Xiaoping right now in Beijing, that he will take his troops and take the Chinese away from Tibet and allow people to live as free independent people again.”
Gere was reportedly banned from the Oscars until 2003.
Chris Rock at the 2016 Academy Awards
When Chris Rock hosted the 2016 Academy Awards, he garnered a lot of attention for his words on racial inequality. In true Rock fashion, he took jabs at the Academy with jokes like “I’m here at the Oscars, otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards.”
Gael García Bernal at the 2017 Academy Awards
Gael García Bernal presented for Best Animated Feature alongside Hailee Steinfeld at the 2017 Oscars and took the time to jab at President Donald Trump’s agenda of building a wall around Mexico.
“Actors are migrant workers; we travel all over the world. We built a life that cannot be divided,” he said. “As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of wall that wants to separate us.”
Meryl Streep at the 2017 Golden Globe Awards
Meryl Streep won the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her lifetime work in the entertainment industry. During her speech at the Golden Globes, she also took the time to call out President Donald Trump, saying, “Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
Patricia Arquette at the 2015 Academy Awards
When Patricia Arquette won the Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Boyhood, she took the time to call out unequal wages across gender lines with an expletive-laden speech.
“To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights,” she said. “It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”
Ricky Gervais at the 2020 Golden Globes
At the 2020 Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais hosted and called out a slew of hot topics like pedophilia in Hollywood, racial injustice, and more.
“Look, talking of all you perverts, it was a big year for pedophile movies, Surviving R. Kelly, Leaving Neverland, Two Popes,” he listed. “Shut up, shut up. I don’t care, I don’t care. Many talented people of color were snubbed in major categories. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that.”
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