Lily Tomlin Arrested At D.C. Climate Protest Led By ‘Grace & Frankie’ Co-Star Jane Fonda

Ted Johnson

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Lily Tomlin was arrested on Friday in the latest climate protest led by her Grace & Frankie co-star Jane Fonda.

Demonstrators shouted “Lily! Lily” as Tomlin and more than a dozen other demonstrators occupied the steps of the Capitol after a rally.

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This was the 12th straight week of climate protests, something that Fonda plans to lead until mid-January, when Netflix’s Grace & Frankie goes back into production.

Fonda was not arrested this week, but she has been arrested in five previous protests. She moved to Washington last fall to help lead the weekly demonstrations, called Fire Drill Fridays, inspired by teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. The protests have taken place even when Congress is out of session, and even during holiday time periods, like Friday’s event and another that was held the day after Thanksgiving.

Tomlin and Fonda also participated in a rally on the southeast lawn of the Capitol, with the theme of how climate change damages the world’s forests.

“We have got to stop hugging and start saving the trees,” Tomlin told the crowd, while blasting one company, BlackRock, for investing in firms that do deforestation and immigration detention camps. She said that those immigrants include “climate refugees,” or those who move from their homes for reasons related to climate change.

“These corporations are making oodles of money on the front end, oodles of money on the back end,” Tomlin said. “It is beyond reprehensible.”

There were several moments of humor, as when Tomlin called for an end to the practice cutting down Christmas trees and to go artificial.

But Fonda then took the stage and said that real Christmas trees were OK. “Tree farms for the most part are out in kind of degraded land,” she told the crowd.

Tomlin, who was sitting behind Fonda, turned her chair around with her back to the crowd.

“What happened? You’re wrong. I love when Frankie is wrong,” Fonda quipped.

Fonda said that the next two protests, on Jan. 3 and Jan. 10, would be devoted to “shaming the companies that are underwriting the fossil fuel industry.”

 

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