Meryl Streep was honored with this year’s Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Golden Globes, and her speech was arguably the best part of the night. Her moving, powerful and extremely relevant delivery called out President-Elect Donald Trump, highlighted the diverse backgrounds of Hollywood stars and quoted the late Carrie Fisher—all of this when her voice was nearly gone from laryngitis.
“Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press,” Streep began. “You and all of us in this room, really, belong to the most vilified segments in American society right now. Think about it: Hollywood, foreigners and the press. But who are we, and what is Hollywood, anyway? It’s just a bunch of people from other places.” Streep stressed the importance of the arts, and the fact that without this diverse group of people from all over the world, we would be stuck watching football and mixed martial arts (which, as she pointed out, are not the arts).
Streep then spoke out against Donald Trump for his mockery of disabled reporter Serge Kovaleski. “There was one performance this year that stunned me,” she said. “Not because it was good. There was nothing good about it.” She explained that this real life humiliation gave others permission to do the same thing. “Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
Streep moved next to discussing the importance of the press and their responsibility to hold Trump (and others) accountable. “We’re going to need them going forward,” she said. “And they’ll need us to safeguard the truth.”
She concluded her speech by reminding herself and her peers of the privilege and responsibility they have as actors. “As my friend the dear departed Princess Leia said to me,” Streep said, “Take your broken heart. Make it into art.” Streep has won eight Golden Globes and has amassed 29 nominations. She can now add this speech to her list of iconic performances.