On Monday night, the 2018 Emmy Awards gave stars a chance to talk about all things television. It also gave some celebrities a platform to get political.
“Black-ish” star Jenifer Lewis made waves by showing up in a red-and-black Nike sweatshirt with a bedazzled swoosh in support of Colin Kaepernick.
“I am wearing Nike to applaud them for supporting Colin Kaepernick and his protest against racial injustice and police brutality,” the actress told Variety on the red carpet.
Lewis added, “What can I do? What can I do that’s meaningful? I’ll wear Nike. I’ll wear Nike to say thank you. Thank you for leading the resistance! We need more corporate America to stand up also.”
Sarah Sophie Flicker, whose husband, Jesse Peretz, directed episodes of the Netflix series “Glow,” made an equally bold statement on the red carpet.
In a reference to Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, she wore the words “Stop Kavanaugh” on her arm alongside the number for the U.S. Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121.
“For the Senate Judiciary Committee to move forward with a vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh this week, without pausing for a thorough investigation of the allegations of sexual violence, would be a gross injustice and an insult to women,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo. “Stop the vote.”
Other celebrities ― like Adam Scott ― wore pink Time’s Up buttons that said “We believe Christine Blasey Ford” and “We still believe Anita Hill.”
Ford, a professor in California, recently came forward with allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her as a teenager.
According to Los Angeles Times’ Amy Kaufman, the pink buttons resembled similar ones “created in 1991 in support of Anita Hill following her sexual harassment allegations against Justice C. Thomas.”
Aside from buttons, stars like Evan Rachel Wood and Padma Lakshmi wore blue ribbons to support the American Civil Liberties Union’s fight to reunite immigrant families separated at the border.
“I was an immigrant, I was a little girl who was separated from my parents for two years, and I just feel if I have the good fortune to be here, then I should pay it forward or I should use what I’ve been given to greater good to pull other people up,” Lakshmi told People on the red carpet.
She added, “I think we have to do that as immigrants, but we also have to do that as women.”
Wood even brought fellow sexual assault survivor and activist Amanda Nguyen, the CEO and founder of anti-sexual violence organization RISE, as her date to the awards show.
“I think we’re at a crucial time in history right now, especially for women and especially for civil rights,” the actress said. “If I have even a little bit of power right now, I want to use it for good.”