After accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes, actress Meryl Streep called out US President-elect Donald Trump for publicly mocking a disabled reporter in 2015, saying she had been heartbroken by his imitation of Serge Kovales during his campaign.
“There was one performance this year that stunned me,” Streep, 67, said on Sunday night. “It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter.”
The three-time Oscar winner was referring to a 2015 incident at a South Carolina rally when Trump flailed his arms and slurred in his speech in an apparent mocking of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has a physical disability. Trump later denied that he was imitating the reporter.
“It kind of broke my heart when I saw it and I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life. This instinct to humiliate when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful it filters down into everybody’s life. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence.”
While Streep did not name Trump directly, she used almost the entire speech to criticize his behavior and policies, while calling for Hollywood to stand strong against any attacks and to support a free press through organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Streep earned a cheer from the crowd when she said that, “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners.”
‘If you kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not art,” she said, as the audience cheered on.
Streep ended her speech with a nod to her long-time friend, “Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher, who died last month after a heart attack.
“As my friend, the dear departed Princess Leia, said to me once, ‘Take your broken heart and make it into art’,” Streep said, her voice cracking with emotion.
Donald Trump took to Twitter to reply Streep. See Donald Trump’s reply below…
