Continuing the recent trend of awards shows becoming political again amid Donald Trump’s second term, the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards featured a number of political comments from winners on Saturday.
Arguably the most pointed remarks aimed at the current administration, which, among other things, has tried to roll back federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, came from writer-director Justin Simien.
Seemingly surprised to have won for his nonscripted series Hollywood Black, Simien used his time onstage to address what he sees as a “white nationalist coup taking over this country.”
And he suggested that Hollywood Black, an MGM+ docuseries that chronicles Black people’s experience in the entertainment industry, might be part of how to fight back.
“If you’re serious about stopping the white nationalist coup taking over this country, how about amplifying Black history,” he said. “Because Black people, we’ve been in a fascist country this whole time. Maybe start with Hollywood Black.”
Simien previously won the best first screenplay Spirit Award for his 2014 feature Dear White People, which was also nominated for best first feature.
Earlier in the show, How to Die Alone creator and star Natasha Rothwell, accepting for best ensemble in a new scripted series, expressed her support for the “trans community under attack right now,” in the wake of Trump’s anti-trans executive orders.
“Know that you are not alone,” she said, addressing trans individuals. “I see you. We all see you. We stand with you.
And trans actress Nava Mau, who won for her work in Baby Reindeer, spoke about the importance of labor and solidarity.
“I hope that we can all take into account labor as we move into this next chapter,” she said. “We don’t know what is going to happen, but we do know our power. We do know that we get to decide who we work with; we get to decide what we work on. Even if it doesn’t feel that way, we do have all of the power. Because we are the people, and our labor is everything. So please, please, let’s stick together. We can do this. We’re going to get through it. Thank you so much.”
The 40th annual Spirit Awards, hosted by Aidy Bryant, took place at the beach in Santa Monica and streamed live on IMDb and Film Independent’s YouTube channels.
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