Jane Fonda, 88, started the Committee for the First Amendment in 1947. She reprised her appearance at SXSW 2025 with another one this year, joined by the comedian W. Kamau Bell. Their joint appearance was about threats to the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Fonda said the arts have a key role to play in the dire state of affairs in the U.S.
“It’s because art can show that there’s an alternative.
“There is another way. It doesn’t have to be this way. You see, tyrants rely on power and fear and a sense of inevitability, right? It’s like, ‘Nothing you can do about it.’ Art says, ‘oh, yeah we can.’ Art creates empathy in people so they can empathize across lines of difference. Artists give voice to the margins. We humanize the despised.
“And most importantly: humor. Tyrants and authoritarians can’t exist in a room with humor. They rely on this, you know, like, “I’m the most powerful.” So if somebody comes along and says, “He ain’t got no clothes on,” which is what artists do, ridicule is the most powerful thing you can use against a tyrant. This kind of humor is tactical ridicule, tactical hilarity.
“Artists, writers, especially comedians, books being banned. We’re very scary: it’s wonderful,” a line that generated lots of applause.
“Some comedians get targeted,” said Bell. “Well, the black ones first,” chimed in Fonda.
Bell agreed: “Well, yes, thank you for saying that, yes. (lots of audience laughter).
“As is proven throughout history,” Bell continued, “the most oppressed group of any society are the funniest people. So for me, I feel like I am standing in the giant footsteps of Dick Gregory, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, even some of the existing footsteps of Wanda Sykes, of people who refuse to let the powers that be tell them to get smaller.”
“And I think it’s very clear right now,” Bell said, “who is being targeted, who is being silenced, the whole attack on DEI is the whole attack on black people and black people’s abilities to speak out, and black people’s ability to be funded, and that affects the black people in the arts. And it’s also a way for those people like me to go, “Huh, does this mean I stop doing it, or do I figure out a different way?”
Fonda was asked about the difference between 1947 and now. “Now, now, the breadth and depth of the authoritarian takeover of the levers of democracy in this country. This has never happened before. I mean black people have experienced authoritarianism, Jim Crow and many other things, but it’s never been this diverse all across our government.
“That is new, but there’s another thing that we must not forget that is new now that didn’t exist then and that is the climate crisis. It’s playing out against everything else that we’re experiencing because of fossil fuels primarily, which by the way are also fueling everything Trump is doing. Tyrants drink fossil fuels. They’re wedded, they bathe in fossil fuels.” Do you hear the oil companies complaining about oil hitting $100 a barrel?
“So fossil fuels are all over us, but,” Fonda warned, “they’re destroying our climate right now and we have a very small window before it becomes truly catastrophic and irreversible and Here’s the thing that I think we really need to understand.
“We’re facing two existential crises, democracy and climate, and they’re completely interconnected. You can’t have a stable democracy without a stable climate, and you can’t have a stable climate without a stable democracy. When you leave here, really think about it. So, this is very different from 1947. This has never happened to humankind in our history. And so, wake up everybody!!”
She encapsulated her mantra in six words: “Fear is leaving. Regret is forever. And if you don’t act, you’re gonna go into your grave regretting it. So let’s all do it. Let’s speak up and rise up and do something!!!”
That elicited the only standing ovation I saw during a serious panel at SXSW 2026.
Photo by C. Cunningham: Fonda and Bell commiserate with one another during their appearance at SXSW 2026.
For my report on Fonda’s SXSW appearance last year, click here: