Bryan Cranston, one of the best actors in the world today, won his second Tony Award last night for being as mad as hell and not willing to take it anymore.
Cranston won the Tony for Leading Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Howard Beale in Network, the stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1976 film.
“Finally a straight old white man gets a break,” Cranston joked while taking to the stage to accept the award.
Cranston then used his Tony Award acceptance speech to chastise President Trump’s attacks on the media.
He made a pointed statement about the role of journalists in a free society and dedicated his award to them.
“Howard Beale is a fictitious TV newsman who found himself in the line of fire because of the pursuit of truth,” he said. “I would like to dedicate this to all the real journalists around the world. Both in the press, the print media, and the broadcast media who are in the line of fire. The media is not the enemy of the people. Demagoguery is the enemy of the people.”
“It’s absurd to think that the media is the enemy of the people.” Bryan Cranston explains why he called out Trump’s attacks on journalists during his #TonyAwards speech. pic.twitter.com/2JZ3TPo095
— Patrick Ryan (@PatRyanWrites) June 10, 2019
Cranston, who wore a blue pin on his suit to support reproductive rights, had even more to say to reporters backstage afterward.
“If that message keeps getting propagated over and over and over again, sometimes it starts to seep in,” he warned. “And the perception of the truth is often more important than the truth, because if people believe it, it doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not. So the opposite message has to continue to be put out there, whether it’s diversity or the fight against the media or women’s reproductive rights or voting rights. It’s important to keep sounding the alarm.”
While Trump didn’t respond to Cranston’s remarks, he posted several tweets on Monday morning calling a front page New York Times story a “fraud” and “sick journalism.”
The former Breaking Bad star previously won a Tony award for his portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson in All the Way in 2014.
He also earned an Emmy nomination for the role when it was adapted to television.
Cranston is now the second actor to win a major award for portraying Howard Beale in Network — Peter Finch won the Best Actor Oscar posthumously for his role in the original film.
“Network” has been a Broadway hit, grossing more than $1 million a week since opening in December.