Jane Fonda Overcomes Sound Glitch to Call for Political Resistance at SAG Awards: ‘Empathy Is Not Weak or Woke’

Avery Thompson February 23, 2025, 9:38 pm

Honoree Jane Fonda accepts the SAG Life Achievement Award onstage during the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on February 23, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. — Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

Hollywood icon Jane Fonda was honored with the SAG Life Achievement Award at the 2025 SAG Awards on February 23. After a powerful introduction from Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Fonda took the stage to give a rousing speech about her nearly seven-decade career and how to fight back against the current Trump administration.

“I’m a big believer in unions,” Fonda said. “They have our backs. They bring us into community, and they give us power. Community means power, and this is really important right now when workers’ power is being attacked, and community is being weakened.”

She was interrupted by a sound glitch, but she played it off effortlessly and continued with her speech. As she discussed how actors create empathy and go to great lengths to understand their onscreen characters, the Oscar winner notably brought up Sebastian Stan, nominated for his performance as a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice.

“Make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke,” she stressed. “And by the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.”

Fonda added, “A whole lot of people are going to be really hurt by what is happening, what is coming our way.” She urged the audience and viewers to “not judge but listen” to those who may not have the same political affiliation and “welcome them into our tent.”

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The On Golden Pond star noted that she made her first film at the “tail end of McCarthyism” and how Hollywood resisted. She encouraged her fellow actors to stand up for what’s right.

“This is big time serious, folks,” Fonda said about the current political climate with Trump back in presidential power. “So, let’s be brave. This is a good time for a little Norma Rae or Karen Silkwood or Tom Joad.”

She continued, “We must not isolate. We must stay in community. We must help the vulnerable. We must find ways to project and inspire a vision for the future, one that is beckoning and welcoming.”