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HUNDREDS OF CELEBRITIES RELAUNCH A MCCARTHY-ERA COMMITTEE TO DEFEND
FREE SPEECH  
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Anastasia Tsioulcas
October 1, 2025
NPR
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_ On Wednesday, over 550 celebrities relaunched a group first
organized during the post-World War II Red Scare: the Committee for
the First Amendment. Their intent is to stand up in what they call a
"defense of our constitutional rights," _

Clockwise from top left: Jane Fonda, John Legend, Ben Stiller, Whoopi
Goldberg, Billie Eilish, and Spike Lee. Led by Fonda, hundreds of
celebrities have signed on to a letter in defense of free speech and
free expression, re-launching a McCarthy-era, committee; Image credit:
NPR (Neilson Barnard; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording
Academy; David Livingston; Dia Dipasupil; Theo Wargo/Getty Images for
Karl Lagerfeld; Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for The Red Sea Int'l Film
Festival/Getty

 

On Wednesday, over 550 celebrities relaunched a group first organized
during the post-World War II Red Scare: the Committee for the First
Amendment [[link removed]]. Their
intent is to stand up in what they call a "defense of our
constitutional rights," adding: "The federal government is once again
engaged in a coordinated campaign to silence critics in the
government, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment
industry."

The current group is headlined by actor and activist Jane Fonda —
whose father, actor Henry Fonda, was one of the early members of the
first Committee for the First Amendment, which was founded in the
1940s to oppose the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee
[[link removed]], through which the federal
government accused many top entertainers of being communists or
communist sympathizers and derailed their careers.

Other members of the newly re-formed committee include filmmakers
Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins, J.J. Abrams, Patty Jenkins, Aaron Sorkin and
Judd Apatow; TV show creator Quinta Brunson; musicians Barbra
Streisand, John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Gracie Abrams and Billie
Eilish; comedians Tiffany Haddish and Nikki Glaser; as well as actors
Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Pedro Pascal, Natalie
Portman, Viola Davis and Ben Stiller. Another signatory is actor Fran
Drescher, who last month ended a term as the president of the
SAG-AFTRA union, whose membership includes NPR's journalists.

In the letter, the authors write: "This Committee was initially
created during the McCarthy Era, a dark time when the federal
government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their
political beliefs. They targeted elected officials, government
employees, academics, and artists. They were blacklisted, harassed,
silenced, and even imprisoned. The McCarthy Era ended when Americans
from across the political spectrum finally came together and stood up
for the principles in the Constitution against the forces of
repression."

"Those forces have returned. And it is our turn to stand together in
defense of our constitutional rights," the letter continues. The group
says that defending free speech and free expression is not a partisan
issue.

In a letter inviting her peers to join the re-established group, Fonda
writes: "I'm 87 years old. I've seen war, repression, protest, and
backlash. I've been celebrated, and I've been branded an enemy of the
state. But I can tell you this: this is the most frightening moment of
my life. When I feel scared, I look to history. I wish there were a
secret playbook with all the answers — but there never has been. The
only thing that has ever worked — time and time again — is
solidarity: binding together, finding bravery in numbers too big to
ignore, and standing up for one another."

* Committee for the First Amendment
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* First Amendment
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* Free Speech
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* Jane Fonda
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* Donald Trump
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* Trump 2.0
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* democracy
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* Fascism
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* Authoritarianism
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* dictatorship
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* dictators
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* MAGA
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* Democratic Rights
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* Hollywood
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* Artists
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* cultural workers
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* celebrities
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* constitutional rights
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* Bill of Rights
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* McCarthy Period
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* McCarthyism
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* HUAC
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* House UnAmerican Activities Committee
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