Actor and activist Sam Waterson speaks at the Artists United for Our Freedoms rally outside the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Friday, March 27, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — A host of celebrities outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday kicked off a weekend of protest against President Donald Trump’s expansion of executive power and his administration’s pressure on freedom of expression — from theater programming in the nation’s capital, to late-night television.
More than a dozen activist performers and creators rallied for Artists United for Our Freedoms, an event organized by the advocacy group Committee for the First Amendment.
Anti-Vietnam War movement icons Jane Fonda and Joan Baez, actors Billy Porter and Sam Waterson, musicians Maggie Rogers, Crys Matthews and Kristy Lee, and authors Ann Patchett and Bess Kalb were among the lineup who delivered performances and speeches.
The speakers focused on what they called Trump’s hostility to First Amendment principles, including his Federal Communications Commission pressuring stations to take late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air. The speakers also said the administration pressured CBS to take Stephen Colbert’s show off the air as a condition for approving a merger related to Paramount, CBS’ parent company.
Under Trump, the Defense Department also booted reporters it considered unfriendly out of the Pentagon’s media workspace. And the administration is fighting The Associated Press in court over White House access after the news organization declined to use Trump’s preferred Gulf of America name for the Gulf of Mexico.
No Kings preview
The event came one day ahead of the third No Kings day, a nationwide protest movement that last drew millions of Americans to the streets in October to rally against a lengthy list of Trump’s actions since beginning his second term.
Fonda, one of the leading members of the Committee for the First Amendment, encouraged the crowd to attend Saturday’s demonstrations.
“Tomorrow we’re gonna see a great example of community building — the No Kings protests. Don’t just go, bring five people,” Fonda said.
The actor and activist revived the committee in late 2025 along with hundreds of artists. Her actor father, Henry Fonda, created the organization during the notorious “Red Scare” in the U.S. during the late 1940s and into 1950s.
At the time, Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy led a campaign to smear actors, musicians and other public figures based on their political leanings, launching numerous false allegations of Communism.
At Thursday’s event, notable moments included Baez and Rogers performing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and Porter delivering a dramatic reading of artist and athlete Paul Roberson’s 1956 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
“It’s time to break your silence and stand tall against authoritarianism that is taking a hold and consolidating very fast. We know that when fear strikes, silence spreads, and we cannot let that happen,” Fonda said.
“While the war in Iran is not a focus of the Committee for the First Amendment, I want to say that the First Amendment suffers greatly in times of war as the government works to crush internal dissent,” Fonda added, alluding to the war Trump launched in conjunction with Israel just over one month ago.
Kennedy Center cuts
The two-time Academy Award winner also called out to Kennedy Center employees in the crowd who learned Friday of layoffs. The Washington Post first reported the cultural center shedding employees ahead of its two-year closure for renovations.
The legendary performing arts center, now bearing the name of Trump on its facade, will close for renovations on July 4, the president announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, in February.
Trump installed himself as chair of the Kennedy Center board shortly after taking office again in 2025.
Country musician and Alabama native Kristy Lee told the crowd she withdrew from performing at the Kennedy Center.
“I’m not gonna lie, I was looking forward to the opportunity. But playing at that center after what happened would cost me my integrity, and that’s worth more than any paycheck,” Lee said.
Media mergers
Several speakers decried the administration’s support for massive media mergers, including between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, owned by David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO and a major Republican Party donor who worked with Trump to gain a large stake in TikTok.
Paramount-Skydance is now on track to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, which currently owns CNN and HBO.
“The Trump regime has sought to quash dissent and demonize the vulnerable, to consolidate the media into the hands of friendly oligarchs. These moves are right out of the authoritarian playbook,” said Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of Free Press, a media watchdog advocacy group.
Logan Keith, a No Kings day organizer and national communications coordinator for the advocacy group 50501, told the crowd “We show up, we speak out, we refuse to be silent.”
“We will gather in the millions in cities, towns large and small. … We will declare in one unified voice ‘America has no kings.’”
In response to the rally, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, “President Trump is in the process of making the Trump-Kennedy Center the finest performing arts facility in the world for all Americans to enjoy. No one cares what Jane Fonda has to say. Her awful acting has traumatized people enough.”