Actress Jane Fonda made history Friday night at the British Academy Britannia Awards, despite not even being present for the ceremony. Fonda instead accepted her award remotely in Washington, D.C. while being arrested for the third time in three weeks as part of her ongoing climate change protest.
For the past three weeks, the 81-year-old Fonda has led the initiative “Fire Drill Fridays” outside the U.S. Capitol building as a method of advocating for immediate action in response to global climate change. Because of the placement of the protests, Fonda and other protestors have been consistently arrested, making headlines. Just last week, Fonda was arrested along with her 78-year-old Grace & Frankie co-star Sam Waterson, and this week, Fonda was joined by 71-year-old actor Ted Danson of Cheers and The Good Place. Danson seemed enthusiastic to be joining Fonda in the protest, joking that being arrested “sharpens the mind.”
In the midst of this protest and arrest, Fonda was also being considered for the prestigious Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award For Excellence In Film, and was announced as the winner during her arrest. Taron Egerton, who was presenting the award for the night, played a pre-taped acceptance speech during the BAFTA ceremony. In the acceptance speech, Fonda expressed her gratitude and apologized for not being able to make the ceremony, explaining that with her climate change protests, she is “trying to heighten the sense of urgency. This is a crisis, not just here, but all over the world.” In D.C., while being escorted away from the capitol by the police, Fonda shouted out her thanks for the award to the camera crews surrounding the protest, yelling “THANK YOU, BAFTA. BAFTA, THANK YOU! THANK YOU FOR THE STANLEY KUBRICK BRITANNIA AWARD!”
Fonda plans to continue the Fire Drill Friday protests every week until January 10th of 2020. The details of the protest and how to get involved are available on her website. You can watch the video of Fonda being escorted away by police at the top of this article.