All these stars vehemently criticized the policies of the American president during an evening organized in favor of the First Amendment of the American Constitution, this Sunday, June 14, in New York, in parallel with the presidential celebrations in Washington.
Hollywood continues to mobilize against Donald Trump. This Sunday, June 14, while the American president celebrated his 80th birthday with great fanfare at the White House, many stars gathered in New York to stand up to him. This counter-evening was organized by the Committee for the First Amendment, a group defending freedom of expression born in the 1940s in Hollywood and relaunched by Jane Fonda in 2025, shortly after the election of Trump for a second term. The 88-year-old actress launched the event with a powerful and committed speech denouncing the “gagging” of artists and the violence perpetrated by ICE, the American immigration police.
“It is unfair that people are attacked and treated as terrorists for having exercised their rights and freedoms,” lamented the star, dressed in a red blazer, on the stage of Town Hall, the famous Broadway performance hall where the show took place the evening. “It’s time for Americans across the country, across the political spectrum, who care about these freedoms, to rise up, creatively and nonviolently, to defend these rights, while we can,” she added with emotion, clarifying that it was not a question “Democrat or Republican, nor left or right.”
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The outrage of Julia Roberts
While most Hollywood stars prefer to stay silent for fear of repercussions on their careers, Julia Roberts has chosen not to remain silent. “We all want to say: “I can’t turn on the TV, I don’t want to hear that†. But we must hear it; we have to face it,” underlined the actress, who also wore a T-shirt bearing the image of Jane Fonda. The star of Pretty Woman then expressed his anger and sadness after the death of Renée Nicole Good, an American woman killed while driving her car by an ICE agent on January 7. With moist eyes, she read a poem written in homage to the mother of the family. Despite her concern, Julia Roberts ended her speech with a note of hope: “If we continue to breathe deeply, we will prevail in the end.”
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For Donald Trump, Robert De Niro is a “sick person with a deranged mind”
Backstage, she found her friend Robert De Niro, with whom she was photographed, a big smile on his lips.
Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
The 82-year-old actor, whose hatred for the President of the United States is known, also spoke during the evening. He notably stated that he could no longer love his country, which he no longer recognized. “I cannot love a country that starts stupid and inhumane wars, killing thousands of innocent people and indirectly causing the death and suffering of millions more,” he said, referring to the war that Trump started in Iran alongside from Israel on February 28. “I can’t love a country that deprives millions of people of health care and uses that money to enrich its friends in the Trump-Epstein class.”
De Niro then clarified that he had “of course” loved the United States for most of his life. “The United States of America welcomed my immigrant ancestors. They offered my family, me and my fellow citizens immense opportunities and extraordinary freedoms,” he declared with emotion, before concluding: “I want to love my country again. I want to find him again.” Also very engaged, Patti Smith then went on stage to sing her anthem People Have the Powerto the applause of the crowd, galvanized.
