Jane Fonda deeply irritated pundits at Fox News during her Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech Sunday at the SAG Awards, during which she defined “woke” as meaning simply that “you give a damn about other people.”
Fonda has an activist resume just as long, if not longer, than her legendary acting resume, and her name has been synonymous with causes considered left-wing for decades. And on Sunday, the 87-year-old icon publicly called for the nation to protest Donald Trump (without mentioning his name) during her SAG Awards speech.
Fox & Friends wasn’t having it on Monday, with the hosts declaring that Fonda’s comments represented “exactly what the country voted against” and that she is “not helping” the Democrats’ case. More contributors piled on throughout the morning.
Fox News guest Hugh Hewitt called Fonda a “disgrace” following a clip of her speech as he compared her anti-Vietnam war activism to present day.
“I’ve been honored to know Commander Alvarez, a prisoner of the North Vietnamese for eight years and seven months—when Jane Fonda went to Vietnam and said there was no torture going on,” Hewitt said, referring to the first known POW in Vietnam. “There was widespread torture. These days, we see people pushing back against the apologists for the war criminal Putin and pushing back on apologists for the torturers in Hamas. The fact that she shows her face at SAG, I think it is an embarrassment for them. She should be burdened by what she did. Never apologized for it.”
As an active part of the anti-war movement in the 60s and 70s, Fonda’s trip to Vietnam to visit areas bombed by the United States, as well as her speaking out against the war, has either burnished or tarnished the actress’ legacy, depending on whom you ask on either side of the political aisle.
Her primary message on Sunday, however, was a call for “empathy” even for those “of a different political persuasion,” but even that presented as a problem for those on the right.
Said Fox contributor Joe Concha Monday in response to Fonda’s remarks: “You want to talk about empathy? I’m sorry, when it comes to just taking care of those who entered the country illegally, I don’t have any because they broke the law and they should not be here and they are drawing from all of these services that should be put towards people who are here legally and do pay taxes.”
He added, “I’m sorry if that seems like it’s cruel. It’s not cruel. It’s common sense.”
MAGA actor Kevin Sorbo echoed that sentiment when he posted on X Monday, “How many immigrants has Jane personally taken into her home?”
