“The Good Place” actor Ted Danson was arrested in Washington, D.C. during a ‘Shut Down DC’ climate protest. The protest shut down intersections across the district as protestors called attention to Earth’s rising temperatures.
This was the second protest this week that brought D.C. traffic to a standstill. Protestors organized on Monday and caused numerous traffic disruptions and rolling street closures for two hours.
The protest was organized by “Fire Drill Fridays”, an organization inspired by Greta Thunberg’s weekly Friday protests that aims to have politicians address climate change.
Ted Danson wasn’t the first celebrity to get arrested. Jane Fonda was put into zip-tie handcuffs and escorted off the streets after refusing to cooperate with officers. This marks the third time that Fonda has been arrested this month during climate change protests.
Fonda has become the face of Fire Drill Fridays and, according to their website, said she’s “moved to Washington, D.C. to be closer to the epicenter of the fight for our climate.”
The former actress added, “Every Friday through January, I will be leading weekly demonstrations on Capitol Hill to demand that action by our political leaders be taken to address the climate emergency we are in. We can’t afford to wait.”
“Scientists tell us the tipping point for catastrophe is only 11 years off,” Fonda says in a video clip with the United States Capitol in the background. “But there is still time if we move quickly and ambitiously to prevent the worst impacts, by beginning the transition off fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy now.”
Ted Danson joined Fonda this time and called himself her “new trainee” during a speech at the Capitol and said he has been an activist for “the last 30 years”.
Mary, a pilot, came from Arlington with a giant carbon footprint
Ted Danson’s arrest was caught on video by the Greenpeace USA who posted the video on Twitter and praised Danson for “getting arrested for the first time. Mass actions like this are a critical part of continuing the momentum of the climate strikes, demonstrating support for a Green New Deal, and ensuring the world’s attention at this critical time! #FireDrillFriday”
You can watch videos of Ted Danson getting arrested below:
. @TedDanson getting arrested for the first time. Mass actions like this are a critical part of continuing the momentum of the climate strikes, demonstrating support for a Green New Deal, and ensuring the world’s attention at this critical time! #FireDrillFriday
Ted Danson just got arrested. What a time!
Ted Danson didn’t seem too worried about being arrested, flashing a smile at protestors as he stood with his hands bound.
https://twitter.com/search?q=ted%20danson&src=typed_query
When it was all said and done, 32 protestors were arrested. “Today, the United States Capitol Police arrested 32 individuals for unlawfully demonstrating in the intersection of East Capitol and First Streets,” Capitol Police communications director Eva Malecki told Variety.
This is Jane Fonda’s Third Arrest at Climate Protests in Washington D.C.
Jane Fonda has been arrested twice this month during similar climate protests in Washington, D.C. She was first arrested on October 11 and charged with unlawful demonstration. She was among 16 protestors arrested and charged with unlawfully demonstrating on the East Front of the Capitol. She was taken into custody at 11:50 a.m. local time and later released on her own recognizance.
The Oscar-winning actress vowed to return every single Friday.
“The same toxic ideology that took this land from people who already lived here, that kidnapped people from Africa, turning them into slaves to work that stolen land, justified it by saying that those kidnapped and displaced people were not human beings, cut down the forests and exhausted the natural world just as it did the people — this foundational ideology is the same one that has brought us the human-driven climate change that we’re facing today,” she said in a statement after being released from prison.
And return she did. On October 19 Fonda was arrested again, this time with actor Sam Watterson, on the steps of the US Capitol. Police warned the protestors three times before taking them into custody.
The pair were charged with unlawful demonstration and released later that day. Fonda called the police “extremely nice and professional” during the ordeal.
Fonda is known for her activism. She was dubbed “Hanoi Jane” in the 1970s for protesting the Vietnam war and visiting the country during the war. She was arrested for in Cleveland, Ohio in 1970 during a speaking tour advocating for the end of the Vietnam war.
She has said she plans to get arrested every single Friday until lawmakers do something about climate change.
“Every Friday through January, I will be leading weekly demonstrations on Capitol Hill to demand that action by our political leaders be taken to address the climate emergency we are in,” Fonda wrote on her website. “We can’t afford to wait.”
Fire Drill Friday posted a photo of Danson being arrested (that Fonda reposted on her account) and said the actor was just arrested “for the first time” and that “This is an inconvenient crisis so we must get uncomfortable and put our bodies on the line to demand action on climate and protection of our oceans.”
It’s unclear if Danson will be back next Friday but it’s almost guaranteed that Fonda will be. It remains to be seen if she’ll get another celebrity friend to join her in getting arrested for the next Fire Drill Friday.
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