SAG Awards: Actors Rip Trump’s Temporary Immigration Ban as Ceremony Turns Political

AshtonKutcherSAGAwards
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Daniel Nussbaum

Hollywood’s Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards quickly turned political Sunday night as presenters and winners repeatedly spoke out against President Donald Trump’s executive action this weekend to temporarily ban immigration from some countries.

Ashton Kutcher opened up the show Sunday night with an enthusiastic pro-immigration message.

“Good evening fellow SAG-AFTRA members and everyone at home, and everyone in airports that belong in my America,” Kutcher opened the show, to rapturous applause from the Hollywood stars in attendance.

“You are a part of the fabric of who we are, and we love you, and we welcome you,” Kutcher added.

Kutcher was hardly the only star to make a political statement during the early part of the awards ceremony.

After winning Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role on HBO’s Veep, Julia Louis-Dreyfus used her acceptance speech to make a joke about Russian interference and address Trump’s temporary immigration ban.

“I am an American patriot. And I love this country. And because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes,” the actress said. “And this immigrant ban is a blemish, and it is un-American.”

William H. Macy, who won Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on Showtime’s Shameless, cracked a joke about President Trump: “Im going to go against the grain here and thank Donald Trump for making the character of Frank Gallagher seem more normal.”

Meanwhile, on the red carpet before the show, Big Bang Theory star Simon Hedberg and his wife Jocelyn Towne sent an unmistakable message by holding up pro-immigration signage. Towne had written “Let Them In” across her chest.

 

More to come as the SAG Awards get underway in Los Angeles.

 

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

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