By Jessica Wedemeyer
10:19am PDT, Sep 15, 2025
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Politics were mostly off the table at the 2025 Emmys, which went without directly mentioning President
Donald Trump or any of the major news stories currently dominating headlines. Still, a few Hollywood stars managed to squeeze in bold political statements. We rounded up the ones you need to know about — from
Stephen Colbert's impassioned acceptance speech to
Javier Bardem's bold red carpet statement,
Bryan Cranston's potshot at "woke degenerate"
Tom Hanks and more…
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No. 1: Colbert's acceptance speech
While accepting the Emmy for best talk series,
Stephen Colbert reflected upon how loss and love are related – "because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it." Said the funnyman to thunderous applause, "I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America. Stay strong, be brave and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor."
No. 2: Javier Barden's red carpet look
Javier Bardem donned a keffiyeh as a scarf while walking the red carpet, where he
demanded sanctions on Israel "to stop the genocide" in Gaza.
No. 3: Hannah Einbinder's big win
"Free Palestine," Hannah Einbinder ended her acceptance speech for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on Hacks.
No. 4: Megan Stalter's unique accessory
Hacks and
Too Much star
Megan Stalter walked the red carpet carrying a black purse to which she'd affixed a small sign reading "CEASE FIRE!" She also took to her Instagram Story to share
a post from the artists4ceasefire Instagram account encouraging followers to "speak up now" because "Gaza is being starved."
No. 5: Bryan Cranston's Tom Hanks potshot
While presenting the award for best talk series, Bryan Cranston joked that it's incumbent upon successful talk show hosts to interview a wide range of guests including "the destructive and woke degenerates like Tom Hanks."
No 6: Recognizing the CPB
Television Academy Chairman Cris Abrego elicited boos from the audience when he acknowledged that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — recipient of the 2025 Television Academy Governors Award — "will close its doors" later this year "because Congress has voted to defund it and silenced yet another cultural institution." He went on to recognize how "storytelling still has the power to unite us," especially "in a time when division dominates the headlines."
