Actors take a stand on banning order
ASHTON Kutcher and a number of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards winners used their time on stage at the ceremony on Sunday to criticise President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration ban.
The 38-year-old actor opened the show with a pointed barb at the new president’s recent immigration order – which restricts people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US – and set the tone for the evening as almost all of the winners also referenced the controversial move.
Kutcher said: “Good evening, fellow SAG-AFTRA members and everyone at home. And everyone in airports that belong in my America.
“You are a part of the fabric of who we are, and we love you and we welcome you.”
Moonlight actor Mahershala Ali – who is Muslim – gave a heartfelt speech as he picked up the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role prize and admitted he hoped there was a lot to learn from his movie in the current climate.
The 42-year-old star told the audience at the LA Shrine Auditorium: “You see what happens when you persecute people, and they fold into themselves…
“What I was so grateful about in having the opportunity to play Juan, was playing a gentleman who saw a young man folding into himself as a result of the persecution of his community and taking that opportunity to uplift him and tell him he mattered, that he was OK. And accept him. I hope we do a better job of that…
“My mother is an ordained minister. I’m a Muslim. She didn’t do back-flips when I called her to tell her I converted 17 years ago.
“You put things to the side and I’m able to see her and she’s able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. And that stuff is minutiae. It’s not that important.”
Bryan Cranston was asked what his presidential character, Lyndon B Johnson, who he portrayed in All the Way, would make of the new president.
The Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series winner said: “I honestly feel that 36 would put his arm around 45 and earnestly wish him success.
“And he would also whisper in his ear something he said often, as a form of encouragement and a cautionary tale, ‘Just don’t p**s in the soup that all of us got to eat’.” – Bang Media