The Golden Globes ceremony was a sea of black on Sunday, and everyone had a message: “Time’s up.”
About a week before the ceremony, more than 300 powerful Hollywood women signed a letter announcing Time’s Up, an initiative meant to give equal representation to sexual harassment and assault survivors across all industries.
“We are looking out for anyone who feels marginalized in the workplace,” “Scandal” actress Kerry Washington said on the red carpet. So far, the initiative has raised around $15 million for its legal defense fund.
Tarana Burke and Michelle Williams
Eight pairs of activists and actresses walked the red carpet “in a show of support for victims of sexual harassment and assault,” including #MeToo founder Tarana Burke and Michelle Williams, who was nominated for her performance in “All The Money In The World.”
“It’s really powerful to be on the red carpet tonight, and for people like Michelle to be selfless enough to give up their time to talk about our causes,” Burke said.
Ryan Seacrest tried to pay some accolades to Williams’s acting prowess, but the actress kept bringing the attention back to Burke.
“I thought I would have to raise my daughter to learn how to protect herself in a dangerous world,” Williams told Seacrest, “and I think because of the work that Tarana has done and the work that I’m learning how to do, we actually have the opportunity to hand our children a different world. So I am moved beyond measure to be standing next to this woman.”
Emma Watson
Emma Watson arrived with activist and Imkaan executive director Marai Larasi.
“We’re wearing black in solidarity,” Watson said. “It makes me really emotional, actually, thinking about the fact that this moment that we’ve put together is across industries. It’s across communities, it’s across spaces.”
Billie Jean King
Emma Stone brought Billie Jean King, the tennis icon she plays in “Battle of the Sexes,” to the ceremony.
NBC host Natalie Morales called King “the OG of gender inequality,” for battling sexism as a tennis legend. King noted that “every generation has to fight for equality and freedom forever,” and that now the baton is passed to Stone’s generation.
Laura Dern
“Big Little Lies” star Laura Dern was accompanied by Mónica Ramírez, the co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas and an activist dedicated to ending gender-based violence in the workplace.
“It’s time for us to make a difference,” Dern said. “And everyone can make a difference.”
Viola Davis
“How to Get Away with Murder” star Viola Davis responded to concerns that Hollywood can be “out of touch at times.”
“I hear the voices of women who said me too,” Davis said. “One of those was me … Someone says there’s no prerequisites to worthiness, you’re born being worthy, and I think that’s a message that a lot of women need to hear . . . they need to understand that it’s not their fault and they’re not dirty.”
Debra Messing and Eva Longoria
Debra Messing and Eva Longoria called out E! News for not fairly compensating former host Catt Sadler.
“We want diversity, we want intersectional gender parity, we want equal pay,” Messing told Giuliana Rancic. “I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts. I miss Catt Sadler, and so we stand with her.”
“We support gender equity and equal pay, and we hope E! follows the lead with Catt,” Longoria later said.
Meryl Streep
“People are aware now of a power imbalance, and it’s something that has led to abuse,” Meryl Streep told Seacrest. “It’s led to abuse in our own industry, and to abuse among the domestic workers field of work. It’s in the military, it’s in Congress. It’s everywhere.”