Hundreds of celebrities relaunch a McCarthy-era committee to defend free speech

Question

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," 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, through which the federal government accused many top entertainers of being communists or communist sympathizers and derailed their careers.

Answer 1

This is true, according to a number of reports by outlets like NBC News, Fox News, and Democracy Now. The NYT describes the revival of Henry Fonda's McCarthy-era free-expression group by his daughter Jane. In a statement signed by Ms. Fonda, Spike Lee, Billie Eilish, Pedro Pascal, and more than 800 others, they emphasized that “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."

Comments

I like how your answer is straight and to the point! I'm curious where you found the quote that you referenced? Has that statement been officially published somewhere public?

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I thought you did a good job backing up the claim and providing sources to show how the situation had unfolded and the celebrities who were involved. There were a few primary sources like posts by celebrities that could've been added for more information, or statements from individuals like Jane Fonda, who led the entire movement and explained why she decided to reinitiate it. Overall, you did a great job emphasizing the important points of the situation.

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Thanks astef! And yes, I pulled the quote from the NYT article that I link in the previous sentence.

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I think your answer was perfect, it wasn't too long or too short, and it gave us all the information we need while still providing the resources to do some more digging . I womder if there's anywhere to see all the celebrities that agreed to sign it, I would be interested to see who did.

Answer 2

The statement is directly linked to National Public Radio and is a true statement. NPR goes on to explain that hundreds of celebrities, including Jane Fonda who is the leader of this particular fight, relaunched the committee for the first amendment that was originally founded in the 1950’s. NPR. This page also directly takes quotes from the relaunch Committee for the First Amendment website. The website states every actor that agrees with supporting and protecting this law in addition to statements like, “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,” Committee for the First Amendment. 

For additional sources, The Conversation gives more of a historical background about Henry Fonda (Jane Fonda’s father) and his activism for a non communist/ free speech Hollywood. In the beginning paragraphs of the article, the author describes, “Jane Fonda is joining forces with more than 500 celebrities and Hollywood heavyweights to defend free speech.” The Conversation. 

This article also cites sources from both NPR and AP News. The AP news article expresses similar thoughts such as, “Jane Fonda announced she had launched a 21st century incarnation of the Committee for the First Amendment…Signers of the new organization’s mission statement include Florence Pugh, Sean Penn,Billie Eilish, Pedro Pascal and hundreds of others.” AP News. According to the sources, this seems to be an accurate claim since it is more factual than biased.