Mark Ruffalo delivers emotional message on the Golden Globes red carpet
Mark Ruffalo explains why he uses events like the Golden Globes as a platform to share his political opinions.
Stars are speaking out about the fatal ICE shootings of Renee Good and Keith Porter.
On the Golden Globes red carpet on January 11, celebrities including Mark Ruffalo and Wanda Sykes wore badges reading “BE GOOD” and “ICE OUT” as they arrived at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
The black and white pins are a response to the murder of Good, who was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis on January 7. Porter was also a Los Angeles man shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve.
“This is for Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered,” Ruffalo tells USA TODAY on the red carpet, and then criticizes President Donald Trump: “We’re in the middle of a war with Venezuela that we illegally invaded. He’s telling the world that international law doesn’t matter to him. All he cares about is his own morality, but the guy is a convicted felon; a convicted rapist.
“He’s a pedophile,” Ruffalo continued. “He is the worst human being. If we rely on this guy’s morality for the most powerful country in the world, then we are all in big trouble.
“So this is for her,” Ruffalo concluded. “This is for the people of America who are terrified and scared today. I know I’m one of them. I love this country. And what I see happening here is not America.”
Sykes didn’t mince his words before the show either.
“We need to speak up and take down this rogue government,” Sykes told Variety in an interview before the ceremony. “It’s terrible what they’re doing to people.”
The red carpet protest follows 1,000 events across the country as part of the American Civil Liberties Union’s ICE Out For Good movement.
“Today, peaceful protests and vigils kicked off the ICE Out For Good weekend of action to honor the lives lost at the hands of ICE, demand accountability, and make visible the human cost of this administration’s actions,” reads a statement on the ACLU website.
The events encourage people to “be good to each other in the face of such horror: to be good citizens, neighbors, friends, allies, and human beings.”
Although she didn’t explicitly mention ICE, Amy Poehler spoke about the “brutal” state of the world in a red carpet interview, while “Poker Face” star Natasha Lyonne said she was “grateful” for free speech. “It’s a wild time,” he told E!
“Hacks” star Jean Smart also spoke about the strange dichotomy of celebrating film and television in tumultuous times.
“Everything is a little overshadowed by everything going on in this country,” Smart said in a pre-show interview with E!, calling the atmosphere in the United States “very concerning.” Smart added that she knows that “people find it annoying” when celebrities talk about “political and social things,” but “I’m here speaking as a human being and as a mother.”
