Celebrities Offer Messages of Hope and Action After Trump Wins the White House

Many people who expected to be celebrating last night found themselves grieving today — and in an effort to lift spirits for Hillary Clinton supporters across the country, celebrities took to social media to share words of hope.

After acknowledging her disappointment and concerns, actress Busy Philipps shared a photo of her daughters happily walking and eating ice cream cones and found reasons to not despair. “But then I look at these amazing people I’ve brought into the world and I believe. I believe that the future they will grow up to fight for will be the one with room at the table for everyone, not just the lucky ones who were born in the right zip code. I believe we can make a difference,” she wrote. “I believe in volunteering and helping others when and where you can. I do not believe in apathy. I will not believe that hate has a hold of us as a country. We are all parents and children and families trying our fucking best. We got this. I believe we will be ok. I have to believe that because of the little people I take care of every day and am trying to raise to have respect and passion and understanding. I believe in them. I believe in us. I believe we will rise out of this stronger. And as soon as I stop crying, I’m gonna figure out how…”

Beside an image of an American flag, Lance Bass shared his thoughts about Donald Trump, though failed to mention him by name. “I totally understand why this country has voted the way it has,” he began. “The people are not happy. I respect that. Let’s all please come together and influence this new President in a positive way. The country is speaking. Let’s respect that and try to work together. I will try to influence this new President as much as I can and support them as much as I can. I pray that they believe in equality. I pray that they make this country a place my future children with gay parents can feel safe and thrive.” He continued, urging people to reach out to each other. “Let’s all try to understand why this country is upset. Let’s please come together and love one another. We might not agree with everything a candidate supports, but We The People can still make our voices heard and guide this new President in the right direction. We still live in the greatest country in the world. Don’t forget that! We are great and we will continue to get better!! #StrongerTogether.”

Sophia Bush also shared some words of encouragement alongside a telling image of nothing but blackness. “I still believe in us. I do. I think if anything this should motivate us. This should wake us up. We’ve clearly been complacent. We haven’t sought out one another and had the tough conversations and really LISTENED to each other. People are hurting,” wrote the 34-year-old actress. “You don’t decide to risk throwing the whole country out the window to ‘change the system’ if you aren’t hurting. People who feel like they’ve lost everything today are hurting. Their rights as women, the LGBTQ, POC, environmental champions, union members, and the list goes on. People are terrified.” She then made a plea to her fans, “So please… Instead of giving in to the fear and reacting with savage hearts, let’s come together now. Have conversations with people who believe in different things than you do. And instead of needing to be right, try to hear them. Then ask for the same respect in return. Build bridges, not walls. Let’s sew the broken pieces of ourselves back together again, and remake the fabric of America. We can.”

Zoe Kravitz used the same picture of darkness beside her message: “Breathe. And love. Breathe. And love •. There is no way to love. Love is the way.”

The message of love was echoed by Drew Barrymore, who shared a picture of a handwritten note that read, “I so look forward to healing.” She added, “And loving” in her comments beside it.

Madonna, however, shared a message of action. “A New Fire Is Lit,” she declared alongside an emoji of burning flames. “We never give up. We never give in.”

She later added a video of herself strumming a guitar while singing “If I Had a Hammer” and as her son David clapped in the backgroud. She captioned that one, “Do Not Lose Hope! We will Rise Up! We will Shatter that Glass Ceiling. Do Not Give into Fear. The Revolution of Love will continue…………,…This is our wake up call America.”

But perhaps Corbin Bleu said it most eloquently, admitting how crushed he was while offering an uplifting message. “This is not the outcome I had hoped for. I’m truly saddened and disappointed in our nation,” he began. “But we do need to come together now more than ever and attempt to close the divide that is so clearly evident. Let’s pick ourselves up and move forward America.”

His words came beside a call to action directed at president-elect Donald Trump:

Truer words may have never been spoken.