Jane Fonda calls for diversity as she accepts lifetime achievement award at Golden Globes

Hollywood icon and activist Jane Fonda was given a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday, for her decades-long career in film and television and for her voice on issues pertaining to social justice and politics. 

The Newsroom actor, 83, delivered an emotional and charged speech for diversity as she accepted the honour, saying storytelling was central to mutual human understanding. Fonda's impassioned plea was made at the award show which got stained by controversy over the dearth of Black members in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the Golden Globes.

“There is a story we have been afraid to see and hear about ourselves in our industry, a story about which voices we respect and elevate and which we tune out,” said Fonda, who accepted her award dressed in a white pantsuit and long sparkling earrings.

“After all, art has always been not just in step with history, but has led the way,” she said. “So let’s be leaders.”