Hollywood stars rally against Trump at Sundance Film Festival
While Donald Trump spent his first full day as president of the United States of America warring with journalists over anemic inauguration attendance numbers, pro-female power united at the Sundance Film Festival as Hollywood stars added their voices to the global women’s movement.
Led by comedian Chelsea Handler, an estimated 8,000 protesters flooded the mountain town of Park City, Utah to voice their objection to Trump and call for solidarity – far exceeding the predicted turnout.
“Today’s a beautiful day and nothing can take that away,” Handler told the Los Angeles Times Saturday in Park City, determined to keep the momentum going after leading thousands of protesters in the Women’s March on Main a day after Trump was sworn in as president.
“The only other option is fear,” she added, “and I won’t be fearful.”
Over 4,200 people RSVPed to the march, held on the busy third day of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival in solidarity with the historic women’s marches taking place simultaneously across the globe. Nearly twice as many showed up early Saturday morning in spite of snow showers and sub-freezing temperatures, according to organizers.
The message of the protest was largely one of hope and intersectional unity, punctuated in a post-march rally where actress Maria Bello, Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Peirce, former Daily Show host Jessica Williams and activist Dolores Huerta were among guest speakers who delivered rousing speeches.
Stopping by Times HQ after the rally, Handler voiced her alarm over the Trump administration. “Everyone says Mike Pence is worse,” she said. “No – Mike Pence is an adult. He might be bad and stand for things I don’t agree with, but he’s an adult male. We’re dealing with a toddler, and that’s not alright.”
With celebrity pals Mary McCormack, Charlize Theron and Aisha Tyler by her side, Handler led the contingent of thousands marched down Main Street; at the head of a sea of men, women and children bearing pink hats, American flags, homemade signs, a giant vagina costume and a Trump effigy on wheels.
Among those marching in the crowd: Kristen Stewart, whose directorial debut premiered at this year’s festival; Grammy-winning singer John Legend, flanked by security, holding a pink Planned Parenthood sign proclaiming “We march for women’s rights”; actors Kevin Bacon, Joshua Jackson, Laura Dern and Jennifer Beals.
The event’s most powerful moment arrived when former Daily Show host Williams, who stars in the Sundance romantic comedy The Incredible Jessica James, took the stage.
“We have to fight,” she told the crowd, the stars of Step standing behind her. “We cannot slack because right now we have a president who is anti-Muslim, anti-Latino, anti-gay, anti-black, anti-woman, anti-Native American and anti-natives.”
“[What’s] even more scary is that we have a vice president who has been a politician for a long time and is a really strong opponent of the LGBT community,” she continued. “And I am so sorry that they were elected, but just know that I march for you and I pray that you march for me.”
The moment had a profound effect on Williams, who shared a powerful lesson from her mother in a speech that garnered enormous cheers.
“My heart was beating,” she later told the Times. “It felt really electric, it felt really powerful. I felt affirmed, and I hope that I affirmed everybody else.”
– LA Times/TNS