Celebrities were among the nearly 7 million demonstrators who showed up at Saturday’s No Kings protests to rally against Donald Trump’s presidency.
Held in small towns and major cities across the country, demonstrators showed up with creative signs and costumes just one day after the president insisted he’s “not a king” in an interview with Fox News.
Saturday’s event marked the third mass mobilization since Trump reclaimed the White House — and one of the largest single-day nationwide demonstrations in U.S. history, surpassing the more than 5 million demonstrators who turned up to the first iteration of “No Kings” protests in June, organizers said.
Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis shared a carousel of posters from one protest with the caption: “SIGNS ‘O THE TIMES! Democracy in ACTION!”
She followed that post up Sunday with a photo of a “No King Any Time” sign.
“In this world of abundance and BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST, it doesn’t matter if this was the MOST people ever turning out in protest, it just matters that we SHOWED UP, STOOD UP, said what we THINK and FEEL and now the HARD work,” she captioned the image. “We have a YEAR to send a real MESSAGE at the BALLOT BOX which is our AMERICAN VOICE, and so, let’s get &$@KING BUSY!”
Severance producer and director Ben Stiller re-shared an image of an attendee holding a sign that said “No Kings except for Knicks player Jalen Brunson.”
Glenn Close posted an image of herself holding up a sign that read: “No oligarchs. No dictators. No despots. No autocrats. No kings!!”
Director Spike Lee shared a photo from Times Square in New York City of a protester holding a sign showing Trump on the cover of Time Magazine accompanied by the words “to go.”
High Fidelity and Say Anything star John Cusack had a pointed message for the Trump administration at the Chicago rally: “Go to hell!”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
In an interview with CNN at the rally, Cusack claimed that Trump misunderstands Chicago. The president has asked the Supreme Court for permission to send troops into the city, arguing they are needed to protect federal border and immigration officials. Officials in the city insist they are not needed.
“What’s interesting is that he doesn’t understand that all the labor rights around the world came from this town, this place,” said Cusack “So if he thinks this place is going to be a fascist hub – no chance!”
Addressing the president directly, Cusack continued: “No, you can’t put troops on our streets. You can’t create enough chaos to invoke the Insurrection Act so you can stay in power. We all know what your plan is.”
Prior to the protests, Mark Ruffalo advocated for participation in a passionate Instagram post.
“WE the People – WE have the power and together WE will win! Check out this inspiring video and share it with your family, friends and neighbors to join one of the over 2,500 No Kings protests across our country this Saturday, October 18th,” he wrote.
“Courage is contagious! Each of us have an important role to play in this historic moment by exercising our First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and peaceful protest. Go to nokings.org to find a protest near you. See you in the streets!”
