Jane Fonda spoke out in support of Don Lemon at a rally in Los Angeles on Friday after the former CNN anchor was arrested and charged with disrupting religious services during an ICE protest in Minnesota.
“We’re not ready to sit back and be quiet. We have to speak out,” Fonda said (via TMZ). “Every American who believes in the Constitution must speak out. Don Lemon is a professional journalist. He and his producers are doing their job, nothing more, nothing less. And he’s been arrested, and they’re doing all kinds of things about him. They’ll make up hurtful things. That’s what dictators do. We have to speak out. We can’t stay silent when a line like this is crossed.”
She added, “I know Don Lemon. My husband founded CNN. I will fight for their constitutional right to speak. They wrongly arrested Don.”
On Friday afternoon, a judge ordered Lemon to be released on his own recognizance. Speaking outside the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, Lemon declared that the arrest would not affect her work as an independent journalist.
“I’ve spent my entire career reporting news, and I’m not going to stop now,” he said. “I will never stop. Last night, the Department of Justice sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for what I have been doing for the past 30 years, and that is reporting the news. The First Amendment protects me and countless other journalists who do the same thing I do. I stand with them all and will not be silent. I look forward to my day in court.”
Fonda has long been one of Hollywood’s most politically outspoken champions. In October 2025, she re-established the First Amendment Commission. The McCarthy-era effort started by her father, Henry Fonda, was aimed at defending against attacks on free speech.
“The McCarthy era ended when Americans from across the political spectrum finally came together and stood up for the principles of the Constitution against the forces of oppression,” Fonda said at the time. “Those troops are back, and now it’s our turn to come together to protect our constitutional rights.”
