A group of prominent Hollywood celebrities and activists has launched a video campaign timed to coincide with the United States' 250th anniversary, using it as a platform to voice opposition to President Donald Trump's administration and warn against what they describe as tyranny.
The nearly 10-minute video features dozens of well-known figures, including Mark Ruffalo, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ted Danson, and Judd Apatow, reciting passages from Timothy Snyder's 2017 book, "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century." The book offers historical advice on how to resist authoritarianism.
In the video, Snyder himself appears, characterizing the upcoming November midterm elections as a critical turning point for the nation. "A time when things could turn very well, or they could turn very ill indeed," he states.
Celebrities read various rules from the book, such as "Do not obey in advance," delivered by Leslie Odom Jr., Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Holland Taylor, and "Beware of the one-party state," recited by Isabel Allende and Lisa Rinna. Actor Mark Ruffalo, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, explained his participation to Variety.
"My hope is that after this very bad and corrupt time we are living through now, we move away from a government that caters to the wealthy and powerful and focuses on the needs, desires and dreams of the children and young people," Ruffalo told the publication. He also advocated for closing the wealth gap and embracing Indigenous perspectives over a "colonial mindset."
Snyder, who shared the video on X, wrote that "To celebrate a rebellion is to know that, from a flawed world, we can make new things." He further critiqued the official 250th-anniversary celebrations, stating that their leaders represent "every threat to liberty that the founders named: arbitrary rule; indifference to law; undue accumulation of wealth; corruption of the government to attain that wealth; collusion with foreign powers to attain power."
The list of participants in the video includes Isabel Allende, Judd Apatow, Margaret Atwood, Joan Baez, Sophia Bush, Misha Collins, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Ted Danson, Ron Funches, Tony Goldwyn, Eric Holder, Jenifer Lewis, Leslie Odom Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Porter, Maria Ressa, Lisa Rinna, Molly Ringwald, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, Holland Taylor, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Bradley Whitford.
President Trump had previously announced his own series of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. next year, stating in a social media video, "We're going to have a good time."