Meryl Streep was honoured with lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globe Awards 2017. And soon after the Hollywood actress delivered a powerful anti-Trump speech at the annual award ceremony, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump denounced Meryl Streep in a series of tweets, calling her "one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood."
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While accepting the Cecil B DeMille award at the 74th Golden Globe Awards, Meryl Streep stunned the audience with her take-down of Donald Trump. The Florence Foster Jenkins actress began her 6-minute speech by saying, "There was one performance this year that stunned me," she said. "It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job."
Without naming him, the three-time Oscar winner said that she was terrified to see Trump mocking a disabled reporter during a campaign rally.
"It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back," Streep said. "It kind of broke my heart when I saw it. I still can't get it out of my head because it wasn't in a movie. It was real life."
Streep's comments were in reference to a rally by Trump in November 2015 when he imitated New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski.
In response to the speech, Trump posted a series of tweets calling the actress "overrated" and also denied the accusation of the mockery. Here are the tweets:
Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never "mocked" a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him.......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
"groveling" when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
However, Hollywood fraternities slammed the President-elect on social media calling him a "small man".
Never forget that some people's good opinion would be more insulting than their abuse! pic.twitter.com/XYRCHTijQz
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 9, 2017
What a small, small man. SAD! https://t.co/xq3nV23YRC
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) January 9, 2017
Fascists used to have a much better sense of humour about Hollywood actors mocking them :) pic.twitter.com/8vcrWdg34L
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) January 9, 2017
Anyone who calls #Meryl "overrated" is unfit to serve.
— Rachel Dratch (@TheRealDratch) January 9, 2017
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Donald Trump claimed that he had neither watched the speech delivered by Streep nor any part of the award ceremony. But he said he was "not surprised" that he was attacked by the "liberal movie people."
Several artistes have called for a 'global culture strike' on Trump's inauguration day on January 20.
Trump also said, "I was never mocking anyone. I was calling into question a reporter who had gotten nervous because he had changed his story."
"People keep saying I intended to mock the reporter's disability as if Meryl Streep and others could read my mind, and I did no such thing," he said in the interview.
While tagging The Devils Wear Prada actress as "Hillary flunky", Trump added, "And remember, Meryl Streep introduced Hillary Clinton at her convention, and a lot of these people supported Hillary."
Referring to the inauguration day, Mr Trump said: "We are going to have an unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout for the inauguration, and there will be plenty of movie and entertainment stars."