President-elect Donald Trump has sensationally called out Hollywood actress Meryl Streep on Twitter, following her powerful speech as she accepted her lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes.
Instead of speaking about her acting achievements, Streep chose to speak out about the ‘bullying tactics’ of Trump, urging the rest of the world to exert compassion and empathy.
She took particular issue with the President-elect’s treatment of a disabled reporter, where he appeared to mock the man’s disability.
“An actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us and let you feel what that feels like,” she began.
“And there were many, many, many powerful performances this year that did exactly that. Breathtaking, compassionate work.”
“But there was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good – there was nothing good about it.”
Her insightful address continued: “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.”
“It kind of broke my heart when I saw it.”
“Disrespect invites disrespect,” she implored. “Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
The president-elect posted a series of tweets, trying to undermine Streep and defend himself against the allegations.
The reporter in question is Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from arthrogryposis.
Trump took issue with Kovaleski over a Washington Post article that was published after 9/11 that stated authorities had ‘questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks.’
That line was being used by Trump during his campaign as evidence to support his claim that ‘thousands and thousands’ of Muslims were celebrating in New Jersey when the Twin Towers fell. Kovaleski quickly made a point of noting however that there were not ‘thousands’ or even ‘hundreds’ of people cheering on after the terror attack, adding in a statement that he had no confirmation that there was any celebrations at all on that day.
Trump went after the disabled reporter while appearing in South Carolina, claiming that he was changing his story now all these years later.
He appears to impersonate Kovaleski as he says: “Now the poor guy, you ought to see this guy,” before drawing his wrists up to his chest and flailing around.
Kovaleski has not changed a word of his original report since he first published the story 15 years ago.
Trump made a statement on Monday defending himself: “I was never mocking anyone. I was calling into question a reporter who had gotten nervous because he had changed his story.”
Watch the video below and decide for yourself.
