Julia Louis-Dreyfus Calls for Universal Health Care After Breast Cancer Diagnosis: 5 Times She Got Political
Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ revelation Thursday that she’s battling breast cancer came with a call for universal health care — something she said would help other women who don’t have the means to fight the disease.
It was a powerful statement from the 56-year-old actress, who previously spoke out about health care in response to comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s impassioned monologues on the now-defeated Graham-Cassidy bill. “Appalling,” she wrote on Twitter. “Take action.”
Even former Secretary of State — and presidential candidate— Hillary Clinton tweeted her support: “Julia, you’re in our thoughts and our hearts. Inspired but not surprised to see you using your platform for good in this difficult moment.”
Playing a politician on the critically acclaimed HBO series Veep, Louis-Dreyfus often weighs in about politics on social media and during public appearances.
Here are a few of the many instances Louis-Dreyfus has spoken out.
1. When she blasted Trump’s Muslim ban at the 2017 Screen Actor Guild Awards.
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Louis-Dreyfus was named outstanding female actor in a comedy series for the second time at the 23rd Annual SAG Awards in January. And during her acceptance speech, she poked fun at President Donald Trump and his controversial immigrant ban.
“I want you all to know, I am the daughter of an immigrant,” she said. “My father fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France. I’m an American patriot and I love this country, and because I love this country I am horrified by its blemishes.”
“This immigrant ban is a blemish, and it is un-American,” she added.
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Later, she told the Daily Beast that with many opportunities to speak her mind on politics, she chooses her words carefully.
“In terms of real-life politics, that moment at the SAG Awards was just something that kind of happened organically because the immigration ban had come down almost immediately before and it was something that I was deeply offended by and felt as if I couldn’t with a clear conscience not mention, particularly because my father was an immigrant,” Louis-Dreyfus said.
“I wouldn’t have had a press conference about it, but the moment presented itself to me when I so happily won the award as a member of the Screen Actors Guild, a union of which I’m a proud member,” she added. “I’m not a politician! In that circumstance I’m a concerned American citizen and a patriot and wanted to say what I did. I’m not somebody who’s going to run for office.”
2. When she made a dig at Trump’s Russian connections and his long-promised “wall” at the same ceremony.
Trump’s long-investigated ties to Russia during the 2016 election came up moments after Louis-Dreyfus accepted the award.
“Whether the Russians did or did not hack the voting of tonight’s SAG awards, I look out at the million or probably even a million and a half people in this room, and I say this award is legitimate and I won,” she joked. “I’m the winner, the winner is me — landslide!”
3. When she apologized for the her role in the current political climate.
At the 2016 Emmy Awards, Louis-Dreyfus poked fun at the incompetent image of Washington, D.C., portayed in Veep.
“I’d also like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate. I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics,” Louis-Dreyfus said, adding, “Our show started out as a political satire, but it feels now like sobering documentary. So I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it.”
4. When she criticized the way Trump has spoken about abortion rights.
“I can’t go there yet. I really can’t,”Louis-Dreyfus told The New York Times in April 2017 when asked about the possibility of a Trump presidency, before comparing The Donald to her Veep character Selina Meyer. “When he was talking about abortion rights, and who’s punishable, it reminded me of an episode we did on abortion. The backpedaling that he was trying to master — I say in quotes — Selina was trying to do that same thing.”
“He’s more in one camp than the other, although he used to be in the other camp, where Selina was trying to say both things at once, so as not to lose a certain part of the electorate. I find it just horrifying and funny and also embarrassing,” she added.
5. When she made a PSA to get millennials to vote while also speaking out on the importance of climate change.
“I play a bombastic, woman-hating, narcissistic politician on my show, and it’s really super-fun to watch because, let’s face it, I’m extremely talented. But it’s not a reality that any of us really wants,” Louis-Dreyfus said in an funny video for NextGenClimate.org set to get millennials to vote in the 2016 election.
The clip also had the Emmy-wining actress slamming the former Celebrity Apprentice host for his connections to Russia and Trump University controversy before pointing out that Trump doesn’t talk about climate chance because he doesn’t believe in it (and because it doesn’t have a “grabbable p—-” — a dig at Trump’s Access Hollywood hot-mic moment).
“Hillary Clinton knows that climate change is real and she understands its disastrous consequences,” Louis-Dreyfus said. “She knows that clean energy is the future. “
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