Meryl Streep called out Donald Trump at the Golden Globes.

Meryl Streep called out Donald Trump at the Golden Globes.
He responded by calling her ‘over-rated.’

By Elahe Izadi and Amy B Wang January 9 at 5:38 PM

Meryl Streep gave a sweeping, serious speech at the Golden Globes when receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. She championed press freedoms, criticized Donald Trump and called for empathy in performances and "in real life." (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

It’s no secret that Hollywood skews liberal, and there were probably few Donald Trump fans in the audience at Sunday’s Golden Globes. And although the awards show kicked off with a few jokes at the president-elect’s expense, Meryl Streep took a serious tone to address the recent presidential election.

Streep accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award — basically a lifetime achievement award — but didn’t say much about her career. Instead, she spent the minutes allotted to her to speak critically of the current political climate and Trump, although she did not mention the president-elect by name.

“There was one performance this year that stunned me,” she said. “It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. There was nothing good about it. But it was effective, and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth.

“It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it. I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.”

Streep was referring to Trump’s remarks during the campaign, when he appeared to mock New York Times reporter Serge F. Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis, which visibly limits the functioning of his joints.

“And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing,” the actress said.

[The Golden Globes showcases Hollywood’s utter disdain of Donald Trump]

You can watch the full, unedited version of the speech here:


Trump responded in a brief interview with the New York Times shortly after the Golden Globes aired. He told the Times he had not seen the speech, but he dismissed Streep as “a Hillary lover” and said that he was “not surprised” to be attacked by “liberal movie people.” (Streep spoke in support of Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.)

[The Golden Globes wasn’t the first time Meryl Streep got political at an award show]

As Monday dawned, the president-elect followed up with a trio of tweets lambasting Streep’s speech, calling it an attack on him.

In addition, Trump referred to her as “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood” and “a Hillary flunky who lost big.”

In her nearly four-decades-long career, Streep has been nominated for 30 Golden Globe awards and 19 Academy Awards, more than any other actor for either honor. She has won both awards multiple times, along with numerous Emmys and Screen Actors Guild Awards.


When Streep was named as a Kennedy Center Honors recipient, the performing-arts center noted that “the sheer breadth and joy of her artistry counts as one of the most exhilarating cultural spectacles of our time.”

The American Film Institute presented her with its Life Achievement Award in 2004, citing “her unparalleled talent and integrity.” A decade later, Streep received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, with the White House calling her “one of our nation’s greatest actors.”

And in 2015, Trump referenced Streep when asked by The Hollywood Reporter, “any actress you love?”

“Julia Roberts is terrific, and many others. Meryl Streep is excellent; she’s a fine person, too,” Trump said in 2015. “The problem is I’ll name three or four or five and then the hundred that I know will be insulted, and I don’t mean to insult them.”


Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a.....
6:27 AM - 9 Jan 2017

30,126 30,126 Retweets  88,842 88,842 likes
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that Streep “clearly was delivering a thoughtful, carefully considered message that she believes in deeply.”

“And it seemed to me to be a fairly straightforward exercise of her First Amendment rights as a citizen of the United States,” Earnest said during a press briefing. He added he hadn’t spoken to President Obama about the Golden Globes speech.

On Monday, Trump added that Streep’s attack was unfounded, writing: “For the 100th time, I never ‘mocked’ a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him ‘groveling’ when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!”



Trump has made that claim before — and in August, The Washington Post’s Fact Checker gave it “Four Pinocchios.”

“It remains a mystery why Trump feels the need to revisit past controversies, particularly ones that reflect poorly on his tenor and judgment,” The Post’s Glenn Kessler wrote then. “But, as the evidence shows, Trump clearly mocked Kovaleski — who in any case never ‘groveled’ or in any way took back his reporting.”

Trump mocks disabled reporter Embed  Share Play Video0:42

At a rally in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 24, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump mocks New York Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski who is disabled. (Reuters)
Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to Trump and his former campaign manager, appeared on “Fox and Friends” on Monday morning to criticize Streep for not trying to unite people.

“I’m concerned that somebody with a platform like Meryl Streep is also, I think, inciting people’s worst instincts,” Conway said on the show.

www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-ent...m_term=.44b3c1cce301

Why would a President elect mock a disabled person? ::confused::

The next 4 years will be interesting, some lunatic will end his misery . >

Amazing speech that touched the heart , unfortunately not all of America sees it as such .

You have guts and a hero to many Ms Streep, thanks 

she did a fab job!

but Trump did not mock anybody.  dat is pure streep.  she has been debunked and made to look like a block head :

Were you ever mocked when you were in a wheel chair in your previous incarnate as Chin.?

After looking at this below , you tell me who is the blockhead

www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politic...m_term=.c5caf940eaab

The Blockhead is Trump and Mapoui .

I have never sat in a wheelchair , but have deepest sympathy for those who have to.

Would not make fun of any one with a handicap , even though it seems you have one. ::confused::

lookin' at wat below.  I har no time fuh dat.  I don' wit' dat..all ah it.

I doh cyare fuh Streep..an' fuh Trump.  leh dem fite..kill one anedder!  how I lorse in dat ::confused:: ::confused:: ::confused::