Jane Fonda Revives Historic Free Speech Committee
Nearly eight decades after her father, Henry Fonda, stood with Hollywood greats like Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, and Frank Sinatra against government repression, Jane Fonda has revived the Committee for the First Amendment. This was originally a McCarthy-era group created in 1947, when actors, writers, and directors were accused of being communists or sympathizers. Back then, careers were destroyed, people were blacklisted, and some were even jailed simply for their beliefs or associations. That climate of fear and silence marked one of the darkest chapters in American cultural and political life.
Now, Jane Fonda — at 87 years old — has called this moment “the most frightening of her life.” With her long history of activism, from the Vietnam War era to today, she says she sees dangerous echoes of McCarthyism resurfacing. Her message is clear: solidarity and collective courage are needed once again.
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Over 550 celebrities, artists, and public figures have signed onto the re-launch. Names include John Legend, Billie Eilish, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Stiller, Anne Hathaway, Pedro Pascal, Natalie Portman, Viola Davis, Aaron Sorkin, and many more. Even Fran Drescher, who recently finished her tenure as president of SAG-AFTRA, has lent her name to the effort. The wide range of supporters underscores that this is not framed as a partisan battle, but rather as a defense of core constitutional rights that transcend politics.
The committee’s letter points to what they call a “coordinated campaign” by the federal government to silence critics across government, the judiciary, academia, the media, and entertainment. They argue that freedom of speech and expression must be defended now more than ever, since these rights are fundamental to American democracy. Without the ability to criticize, protest, and even mock those in power, they warn, the country risks sliding into repression once again.
This revival also comes amid recent controversies, such as comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s temporary suspension after his on-air comments sparked political backlash. For Fonda and the committee, this was just one visible sign of a broader climate of intimidation and censorship.
In her invitation to peers, Fonda wrote that she has lived through war, protest, and political backlash, but what frightens her today is the possibility of silence winning out. She emphasized that no secret playbook exists to resist repression — only unity and collective action have ever worked.
The message from this new Committee for the First Amendment is unmistakable: the stakes are too high to remain silent. Artists, thinkers, and citizens alike are being urged to bind together, to show strength in numbers, and to defend the rights that generations before them fought to protect.
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