Say It Louder: Artists, Activism & the First Amendment with The ACLU, Jane Fonda, & W. Kamau Bell
Summary
This SXSW 2026 panel brings together ACLU National Director of Artists and Entertainment Engagement Jessica Weitz, Emmy/Peabody-winning comedian and filmmaker W. Kamau Bell, and two-time Academy Award-winning actress and activist Jane Fonda to explore the intersection of art, comedy, and First Amendment rights at a moment of acute democratic crisis. The conversation opens with the premise that artists and performers have always been primary targets of authoritarian regimes precisely because art can demonstrate that alternatives are possible, create cross-difference empathy, give voice to the marginalized, and deploy humor as a weapon. Jane Fonda invokes historian Timothy Snyder's concept of 'tactical ridicule' — the idea that tyrants cannot coexist with mockery — and cites the Portland street protests with inflatable frogs and donuts as a contemporary example of this tradition. Bell frames this historically through the lens of Black comedy, noting that oppressed communities have always used humor as coded resistance, placing himself in the lineage of Dick Gregory, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Wanda Sykes.
A significant portion of the discussion focuses on what makes the current political moment distinctly different from previous eras of protest. Fonda, whose father Henry Fonda co-founded the Committee for the First Amendment in 1947, argues that two interconnected existential crises — authoritarian democratic backsliding and the climate emergency — are unprecedented in their simultaneous occurrence and mutual dependence. She states these crises 'have to be solved together,' arguing that a stable democracy requires a stable climate and vice versa. Both guests also address the specific threat posed by media consolidation and corporate mergers: Bell warns that if Larry Ellison gains control of HBO and CNN, Americans lose credible truth-telling platforms; Fonda connects fossil fuel interests directly to the support infrastructure enabling authoritarian politics.
The session takes a notably personal turn when Bell recounts performing at the Kennedy Center the day Trump announced his takeover of the institution. He describes rewriting his act on the flight to Washington, navigating the specific pressures placed on Black public figures whose every action is read as representing the entire community, and ultimately deciding to perform because his comedic tradition — rooted in Carlin and Bruce — gave him a tool that other artists like Rihanna or Rhiannon Giddens didn't have: the ability to say 'f*** that guy' and make it land as comedy. He went outside before the show and danced at the drag queen solidarity rally, then went inside and performed. The New York Times' DC editor gave him the best review of his career. This story becomes a framework for thinking about how different people can contribute different forms of protest from different positions.
The panel's practical prescriptions are specific and layered. On non-cooperation, Fonda advocates for mass consumer action (mass subscription cancellations to Disney helped get Jimmy Kimmel back on air) and community organizing modeled on Minneapolis, where organized churches, unions, restaurant workers, and police created an ecosystem that refused to serve ICE, repaired doors ICE kicked down, and walked immigrant children to school. Bell emphasizes DIY activism for artists under DEI attack, pointing to his Substack 'Who's With Me' as a direct-to-audience channel, and advocates supporting artists directly rather than through consolidating platforms. He also recommends his co-authored book 'Do the Work' as a practical anti-racism activity guide for adults. Both guests reference the March 28 No Kings rally as an entry point for newer activists, urging attendees to bring five to ten friends as a first handshake into organizing. The session closes on a note of genuine personal hope rather than performed optimism, with Bell invoking Harriet Tubman as his internal compass and Fonda citing Greta Thunberg: 'Don't go looking for hope — look for action and hope will come.'
Key Takeaways
- •Tyrants and authoritarians are uniquely vulnerable to humor and ridicule — Jane Fonda cites historian Timothy Snyder's concept of 'tactical ridicule' as one of the most powerful tools against authoritarian power, pointing to Portland's inflatable frog and donut protests as contemporary examples.
- •Art threatens power because it demonstrates that alternatives are possible: 'Tyrants rely on power and fear and a sense of inevitability... Art says, oh yeah, we can.' (Jane Fonda)
- •The current moment is historically unprecedented in combining two mutually dependent existential crises — democratic backsliding and climate collapse — that cannot be solved independently: 'You can't have a stable democracy without a stable climate. And you can't have a stable climate without a stable democracy.' (Jane Fonda)
- •W. Kamau Bell performed at the Kennedy Center the day Trump announced his takeover, going outside to dance at a drag queen solidarity rally before going inside to perform; the New York Times DC editor gave him the best review of his career — demonstrating that different forms of protest can operate simultaneously from different positions.
- •Non-cooperation works at scale: mass subscription cancellations to Disney (not just petition signatures) got Jimmy Kimmel back on air, illustrating that economic pressure — 'hitting them in the pocketbook' — is more effective than symbolic protest alone.
- •The Minneapolis model of organizing provides a concrete template: organized churches, unions, restaurant and hotel workers, and police created a coordinated ecosystem that refused to service ICE, repaired kicked-in doors, delivered groceries to homebound immigrants, and walked children to school.
- •Media consolidation is a direct threat to free expression — Bell warns that if Larry Ellison gains control of HBO and CNN, 'we have fewer places to take our product' and audiences lose substantive, truthful content, replaced by 'thin, watered down' product that costs more.
- •Artists under DEI attack should treat 2026 as a DIY year: Bell advocates supporting artists directly (via Substack, direct platforms) rather than through consolidating corporate platforms, citing Ryan Coogler having to generate $2 billion for Hollywood before earning the creative latitude to make 'Sinners.'
Transcript
Thanks for coming. So, I'm Jessica Whites. I'm the national director of artists and entertainment engagement at the ACLU. What that means is I get to work with artists across all of the issues that the ACLU works across from immigrants rights to LGBTQ rights to voting rights to reproductive justice to issues of privacy and surveillance which comes in handy after the last uh panel. But we're here to talk about the first one. Number one, the first amendment and the freedom of speech. So I think fr...
