Jodie Foster and Michael J. Fox lead anti-Donald Trump rally

Jodie Foster and Michael J. Fox led a star-studded anti-Donald Trump rally in Los Angeles on Friday (24Feb17).
The United Voices rally was staged by Hollywood’s United Talent Agency in place of the organisation’s usual swanky pre-Oscars party.
A crowd of 1,500 people attended the rally in Beverly Hills, with two-time Oscar winner Foster making a rare public appearance to speak out against the controversial president.
“As most of you know, I don’t do this very often,” the 54-year-old told the crowd. “I’m not somebody that feels very comfortable using my public face for activism and so in my life, I’ve found the small ways – much like most of you – to serve, to show up, to give somebody a lift at the bottom of the hill when they’re going to the top.
“I’ve always found a subtle way, a quiet way, a personal way. But this year is a different year and it’s time to show up.”
Canadian-born Fox, who became a U.S. citizen nearly 20 years ago, criticised the Republican president’s policies on cutting universal healthcare and his controversial Muslim travel ban.
“There are people that are giving everything, that have lost everything they have and they’re struggling to keep their families alive, and to keep food in their mouths and disease away from their bodies – and at tremendous risk to get here, to this country. And then we say, ‘No’? It’s an insult on human dignity,” he stated.
NCIS star Wilmer Valderrama was visibly upset as he shared the heartbreaking story about how his Venezuelan immigrant parents fought to provide a better life for him and his siblings, and how he used to walk miles with his mother to get food from the 99 Cent store as a child.
“You see, my story is not my story. It’s the story of millions that have come for generations to this land, and brick-by-brick made it a country,” he said, to loud cheers from the crowd.
“Because of them, we look out the window and we see the American flag and we know, that any minute, anything can happen. That at any minute we will all wake up to our own personal American dream. See, that’s the immigrant story. We built a country where we can live with one another and thrive together and continue to move forward together, to celebrate our culture to celebrate one another as people.”
The United Talent Agency cancelled its Oscars party this year in solidarity with its client, Oscar-nominated Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, who was temporarily prevented from re-entering the U.S. after Trump’s controversial Muslim travel ban suspended his visa.