A Letter to Meryl Streep

Reaction to Meryl Streep’s Golden Globe Speech

By: Andrea

 

Oh Meryl!

You’re such a talented actress. Why’d you have to go and ruin your big moment by talking about politics?

You won a big award at the Golden Globes last night, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which means you made outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment. Entertainment is clearly your thing. But speeches? Not so much. At least not last night.

I’m sure you started out with good intentions. You seemed to want to give a speech focused on tolerance and love. Your words were so beautiful. So eloquent. But the second you got politics involved, you lost me. Probably others too. Did you forget this was an awards ceremony to honor the best in television and film? I don’t recall politics being part of its purpose.

You took a jab at the President-elect and made him the focus of your speech. And than took another jab unnecessarily at a few other things… football fans and mixed martial arts. So senseless. But let’s stick with the political portion for a minute because that’s the part that’s at the heart of this issue.

It’s no secret you are a liberal. You openly acknowledge as much and even spoke at the most recent Democratic National Convention in support of Hillary Clinton. And that’s great. You are entitled to have political opinions and I love that you get involved. I wish more people got involved with politics! And so then, because of your involvement, we clearly already know that you don’t like Mr. Trump. All of Hollywood, and the rest of America, didn’t need to be reminded. I can’t be the only one who feels this way. When you took a swipe at Mr. Trump, you unnecessarily ostracized so many Americans who support him. You turned your fantastic teaching moment about love and tolerance and accountability into something political. You spoke to Hollywood elitists, a left-leaning segment of the country, as if they were the only ones listening to you. You simply forgot, overlooked, ignored, or discounted all the other millions of Americans who may have been tuning in, who actually support Mr. Trump (or football and mixed martial arts) and want our country to succeed under his presidency, under any presidency.

If you were a conservative republican and slammed Hillary Clinton at the Golden Globes (or any awards show for that matter) it would have bothered me all the same. Why can’t everyone just enjoy a good dose of celebrating entertainment without bringing ugly politics into the mix?! It makes what could be really great moments into anything but.

Standing up for good behavior is of utmost importance no matter the side of the political spectrum our ideals happen to fall. We all need to be reminded of being nicer, more respectful, better people from time to time. So, thank you for bringing this issue to the forefront. But, any number of non-political stories from recent headlines, or even your personal life, could have clearly illustrated your point all the same. At the end of the day, we are all human and deserve to be treated kindly. Whether we’re democrats, republicans or anything in between. Sometimes, especially during an election season, it seems people forget this valuable lesson. But we are no longer in an election season. Your big moment last night quickly turned what could have been a very heart-warming and inspiring speech into a place for you to air your disgust at the election outcome. If you meant for it to be a political rally, you hit a home run. But if it was an attempt to unify our divisive country, you missed the mark.

It reminds me of that famous line from Michael Jordan, who when asked why he wasn’t openly endorsing a Democrat stated, “Republicans buy sneakers too.”

Everyone buys sneakers. Everyone watches movies. In a divisive country, if you really felt the need to involve politics, this is what you should have said, “Let’s all stand up for those who are ridiculed, belittled, and vilified. Let’s all vow to help our country move into the right direction. Let’s put the past behind us and find commonalities to move our nation forward and treat each other with respect and love.”

That’s what I wish you would have said. You had the stage. You dropped the ball.

Thanks Meryl for your act last night. It won over the Hollywood elite. But people on both sides of the aisle watch your movies.