Fonda’s second annual celebration, hosted by the Committee for the First Amendment, took place at the historic Town Hall, a Midtown mainstay that was founded in 1921 by suffragists. A crowd of mostly older Americans surged in with signs that reflected the stage set itself: protest placards and banners framed a large screen that projected anthems throughout the concert. Some read, “We will not be silenced,” while others urgently pleaded, “Defend the constitution.”
The concert was livestreamed nationwide to 5,000 registered watch parties. “There could be as many as a million people watching this,” Fonda told VF—and nearly 200,000 viewers streamed it on No Kings’ YouTube alone. Fonda had helped amass a star-studded crew: Bette Midler, Julia Roberts, Joy Reid, Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Tessa Thompson, Lily Gladstone, and Ayo Edebiri all showed up to support the cause. The night kicked off with a group of activists encouraging the audience to sing: “Rise up, we’re gonna rise up,” they belted, smashing tambourines and twirling in circles. “We ain’t gonna let nobody turn us around, because the people united will stand our ground.”
Ayo Edebiri makes a surprise appearance onstage, reminding people of the upcoming midterms and urging people to vote.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
When their chorus ended, Fonda herself appeared on the stage in a bright red suit and a shirt bedazzled with the word Resist. “The government and its cronies is routinely violating the First Amendment to silence artists, shuttering institutions like the Kennedy Center, defunding the arts, banning books, canceling TV hosts that speak out,” she told the booing crowd. “It’s really bad, and it’s being allowed by cowardly corporations.”
Just minutes earlier, Fonda sat backstage preparing for her speech. As a stylist coiled the 88-year-old actor’s hair into perfect curls, she stared at the mirror with a resolute gaze and unwavering determination. “Things are happening very fast now,” she told VF. “One of the reasons that this is so important is that we need to inspire people to take action, because if we don’t do so quickly, we’re not going to have any rights to defend. So time is very much of the essence.”
Fonda helped revive the Committee for the First Amendment in 2025, an organization dedicated to defending free expression against government oppression and industry complicity. It draws inspiration from the original Committee for the First Amendment, which Fonda’s father, Henry Fonda, helped launch in 1947. The group originally aimed to oppose the McCarthy-era, anti-Communist investigations conducted by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and its core members included some of the most prominent filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, and entertainers of the mid-20th century: Humphrey Bogart, Lucille Ball, Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland, and Frank Sinatra.