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Ashton Kutcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kerry Washington and More Stars Slam President Donald Trump’s Travel Ban at 2017 SAG Awards

Ashton Kutcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and more stars took a stand against President Donald Trump’s travel ban during the 2017 SAG Awards in L.A. on Sunday, January 29. 

Kutcher, 38, wasted no time discussing the controversy during his remarks at the top of the show. “Good evening, fellow SAG-AFTRA members and everyone at home. And everyone in airports that belong in my America,” he said, as the crowd inside the Shrine Auditorium burst into applause. “You are a part of the fabric of who we are, and we love you and we welcome you.”

Related: PHOTOS: SAG Awards 2017 Red Carpet Fashion: What the Stars Wore

Hours earlier, the Two and a Half Men alum bashed the ban by pointing out that his wife, Mila Kunis, emigrated from Ukraine to the U.S. when she was a child. “My wife came to this country on a refugee visa in the middle of the Cold War! My blood is boiling right now!” he tweeted. “We have never been a nation built on fear. Compassion that is the root ethic of America. Our differences are fundamental 2R sustainability.”

Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher speaks onstage during The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2017. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Louis-Dreyfus, 56, gave a passionate speech about the ban while accepting the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.

Related: PHOTOS: See How the Stars Prepped for the SAG Awards 2017

“I want you all to know that I’m the daughter of an immigrant. My father fled religious persecution in Nazi occupied France. I’m an American patriot [and] love this country,” the Veep star said. “Because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes and this immigrant ban is a blemish and it’s un-American. I say to you this: Our sister guild, WGA, made a statement I would like to read. Our guilds are unions of storytellers who have always welcomed those from the nations of varying beliefs… We are grateful for them. We stand with them and we will fight for them. Thank you very much. Thank you.”

Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepts Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for ‘Veep’ onstage during The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2017. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Last Friday, Trump, 70, signed an executive order to ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the country, which led to people being detained at airports across the country. In response, protesters have rallied together and a federal judge blocked part of Trump’s order on Saturday, temporarily blocking the government from sending those who have landed in the U.S. back to their home country.

Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington attends The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2017. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Many people, including Kerry Washington, have taken to social media to denounce Trump and the ban. “A lot of people are saying right now that actors should keep our mouths shut when it comes to politics. But the truth is, no matter what, actors are activists because we embody the humanity and worth of all people. This union helps me to do that,” the Scandal actress, 39, said at SAGs. She also wore a pin as a sign of solidarity.

Related: PHOTOS: Donald Trump's Most Offensive and Outrageous Quotes Ranked

The Big Bang Theory actor Simon Helberg took a stand at the star-studded event as well. The Florence Foster Jenkins star, 36, held up a sign that read “Refugees Welcome” while walking the red carpet with his wife, Jocelyn Towne. The actress, 40, wrote “Let Them In” on her chest. 

Simon Helberg and Jocelyn Towne
Simon Helberg and Jocelyn Towne attend The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2017. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Mahershala Ali tearfully spoke out against Trump’s immigration ban while accepting the award for Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in Moonlight.

“I think what I have learned from working on Moonlight, you see what happens in persecution. What I was so grateful about and having the opportunity was playing a gentleman who saw a young man folding into himself as a result of the persecution of his community and taking that opportunity to uplift him and tell him he mattered, that he was OK. And accept him. I hope that we do a better job of that,” he said.

“We kind of get caught up in the minutia and the details that make us all different, I think there’s two ways of seeing that. There’s an opportunity to see the texture of that person, the characteristics that make them unique, and then there’s the opportunity to go to war about it. And to say that that person is different than me and I don’t like you so let’s battle,” he continued. “My mother is an ordained minister. I’m a Muslim. She didn’t do backflips when i called her to tell her I converted 17 years ago. You put things to the side and I’m able to see her and she’s able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. And that stuff is minutia. It’s not that important.”

Bryan Cranston would go on to guess what former president Lyndon B. Johnson would say to Trump today. The Breaking Bad alum won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series for portraying the 26th president in HBO’s All the Way.

Bryan Cranston
Bryan Cranston accepts Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for ‘All the Way’ onstage during The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2017. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

“I feel that 36 would put his arm around 45 [Trump] and earnestly wish him success,” Cranston said on Sunday night. “He would also whisper in his ear something he said often as a form of encouragement. And a cautionary tale. Just don’t piss in the soup that all of us have got to eat.”

Trump released a statement about the ban on Sunday. “America has always been the land of the free and home of the brave. We will keep it free and keep it safe, as the media knows, but refuses to say,” he said, via CNN. “To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our country safe.”

One day earlier, however, Rudy Giuliani told Fox News during a live TV interview that Trump called him to ask how to “legally” do a “Muslim ban.”

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