Tina Fey looked back at the November presidential election and realized, as she put it, that “a lot of this election was turned by white, college-educated women who now would like to forget about this election and go back to watching HGTV.”
Some on social media pegged her comments — made Friday night at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Stand for Rights benefit in New York City — as digs about the women who voted for Donald Trump. But others saw them as more of a call to arms.
“I would want to urge them … ‘You can’t look away’ because it doesn’t affect you this minute, but it’s going to affect you eventually,” Fey added. “Again, open two windows. Do watch HGTV, but [don’t] turn our attention away from what is happening.”
The remarks came during a conversation with New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman and ACLU deputy legal director Louise Melling about women’s reproductive rights during Friday’s four-hour, star-studded Facebook Live fundraiser for the ACLU.
“Right now it’s not just about fighting for progress,” Fey said. “Gains we’ve made over the last hundred years are under attack. Luckily, [Vice President] Mike Pence isn’t allowed to go down and shut down Planned Parenthood unless his wife goes with him. So, you know, if we can just keep Karen busy scrapbooking, we can all still get pap smears.”
Fey concluded with one last thought: “I, personally, would like to make my own pledge to college-educated white women to not look away, not pretend that things that are happening now won’t eventually affect me if we don’t put a stop to it.”