The effectiveness of celebs protesting for political reasons is a hotly debated topic.
History has given us stars using their fame to push for significant social change, while it has also given us empty celebrity activism that fails to follow through with it’s inspiring promise once it leaves the red carpet. With the advent of technology, celebrity opinions on a wide range of political and social issues have become more accessible to the masses, and their power to influence public opinion at the polls and the picket line is now commonplace. Whether you agree with them or not, stars are using their amplified voices to advocate for the causes they believe in without apology.
From refusing an Academy Award and denouncing Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans to taking a knee during the national anthem and silently protest police brutality, here are a few celebrities throughout the years who’ve gotten political on live TV.
Muhammad Ali vs. the Vietnam War
Muhammad Ali’s refusal to fight in Vietnam War because, as a black Muslim, he was a conscientious objector is legendary at this point in history. “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America,” Ali once said on live TV. “And shoot them for what? They never called me n***er, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”
On June 20, 1967, Ali was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually overturned his conviction, resulting in the anti-war movement growing in strength. Speaking at college campuses, Ali silenced those pressuring him to be involved in what many believed to be an unjust war with compelling arguments.
“My enemies are white people, not Viet Cong or Chinese or Japanese, you my opposer when I want freedom,” Ali said. “You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality.”
Marlon Brando refuses his Oscar
During the 45th Academy Awards in 1973, Marlon Brando was a favorite to win the Best Actor Oscar for his legendary performance as Don Corleone in The Godfather. Brando reportedly knew he was going to win, so that’s why he didn’t show up, sending Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather instead to use the opportunity to decry Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans and to offer support for the American Indian Movement. As she approached the podium, Littlefeather refused to take the Oscar statue presented to her by Roger Moore and delivered the following speech:
“Hello. My name is Sacheen Littlefeather. I’m Apache and I am president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee. I’m representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech … that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry — excuse me — and on television in movie reruns, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee.
Some celebs in the audience booed.
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins fight HIV
At the 65th Academy Awards ceremony in 1993, the audience was filled with celebs wearing red ribbons to support those living with HIV and AIDS. When Susan Sarandon and her then-husband, Tim Robbins, took to the stage to present the Oscar for Best Film Editing, the activist pair protested the United States government for their detention of Haitians infected with those diseases.
“In the spirit of the red ribbons being worn here this evening, we’d like to call attention to the 266 Haitians that are being held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States government. Their crime? Testing positive for the HIV virus,” Robbins opened. “On their behalf and all the people living with HIV in this country, we’d 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,” Sarandon ended
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