Why Jane Fonda chose not to get arrested at 5th climate change protest

Actress Jane Fonda marches during a climate rally outside US Capitol in Washington, DC on November 8, 2019. (Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Actress Jane Fonda marches during a climate rally outside US Capitol in Washington, DC on November 8, 2019. (Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Jane Fonda avoided arrest during her fifth “Fire Drill Friday.” After 20 hours in jail last week, and with Grace and Frankie resuming production in two months, the 81-year-old actress said she couldn't risk spending 90 days behind bars. Fonda has been arrested the previous four Fridays in an effort to bring awareness to the climate crisis.

“After the third arrest, they gave me a court date in November. And because I was arrested again before my court date, that's when they said, ‘Well, you're going to have to spend the night in jail,’” she explained to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of Friday’s protest. (Fonda had initially said she planned to get arrested 14 times.) “I have to be careful not to get to a point where they're going to keep me for 90 days, because I have to begin preparing for Grace and Frankie in January. So I'm not going to get arrested every time. They give you three warnings, and so I will step away at the third warning.”

Fonda demonstrated Friday with Ben Cohen and Jerry Epstein, the founders of ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s. (The brand is known for getting political, giving Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders his own line of flavors.) The protest focused on the connection between war and military and the climate emergency. Fonda told THR Cohen and Epstein were the perfect guests as they are “very anti-military.”

This week, Fonda's “Fire Drill Fridays” crowd — the largest since its inception — joined forces with the group “Remove Trump” and marched from Capitol Hill to the White House.

They demanded action on a Green New Deal and Trump’s impeachment.

Upon reaching the White House, Fonda sat with native and indigenous activists.

But then she stepped out of the way.

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Fonda said that Trump needs to be removed from office for the sake of the environment, calling him an “oil president.”

“His Cabinet is an oil cabinet. He is bought off by fossil fuels and a lot of people in the Senate, a lot of Republican candidates are too,” she declared. “So, we can’t solve the problem when we have elected officials who are paid by the fossil fuel industry.”

Fonda said that “the sooner that we move beyond” Trump, “the better, whether it’s through the elections or through impeachment or whatever.”

The actress will have celebrity guests attending future “Fire Drill Fridays,” although it’s up in the air who will be willing to get arrested. Rosanna Arquette, Catherine Keener, Ted Danson and Sam Waterston have all been arrested alongside Fonda during her climate change protests.

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