“We don’t have any problem going to see her, but we have a problem with her being here,” another protester said.įonda reportedly told the audience that she made a “huge mistake”. She was treasonous during the Vietnam War in her conduct and detrimental to the entire war and cause,” one protester said. More than 40 years after her controversial photo op at a North Vietnamese gun site, the actress experienced more than a couple of protesters at her weekend event in Frederick.Īccording to NBC Washington, around 50 military veterans and their supporters protested Fonda’s appearance at the annual Frederick Speaker Series. Jane Fonda is still feeling the repercussions from her actions during the Vietnam War. 28 on PBS.Jane Fonda is still feeling the repercussions from her actions during the Vietnam War So it’s not monolithic, but people react to her very strongly.” “A number of vets who were involved in Vietnam but are against the war think she was courageous for going to Hanoi and taking a stand even though they didn’t agree with everything she had to say. “Not all vets hate her,” acknowledged Novick. “I think it’s the incongruity of ‘she’s not a foreign policy expert, she’s not connected, she’s a beautiful woman, she’s a great actress, and she used that celebrity platform to speak about things that maybe are better left to others.’”Īlthough the detractors have been the most vocal, Fonda isn’t universally despised for her actions. She seems to be the kind of focal point of all of this, and I guess that’s the price you pay for being a celebrity,” she added. “There’s something deeper going on there for sure. Novick said, “Everyone we spoke to was happy to say something about Jane Fonda, and we did have a variety of perspectives, but we thought he was able to explain the anger, and also in his mind, the origins… of the betrayal that people felt because they had idolized and fantasized about her. The documentarians did not lack for subjects who were willing to discuss the actress, but they focused on veteran John Musgrave for his insights into the subject. They were the ones also paying the price, so like everything else in this story, it’s extremely, extremely complicated.” “But the pilots weren’t the ones makes the decisions about what our policy should be. “I think it’s also the power of images, just having herself photographed on an anti-aircraft gun that was shooting down American planes - even though those planes were bombing North Vietnam and inflicting collateral damage like we said on innocent people,” she continued. Lots of people went to Hanoi, lots of antiwar activists said things that were very provocative. “I thought she was just representative of radical politics, but there are so many other people who could have been - Joan Baez was in North Vietnam. The depth of loathing is actually perplexing to comprehend. It was never my intention to cause harm.”ĭespite this public apology and more than 40 years having passed since the incident, Fonda’s name still evokes feelings of absolute hatred and disgust for many. It was my mistake and I have paid and continue to pay a heavy price for it… I have apologized numerous times for any pain I may have caused servicemen and their families because of this photograph. It is possible that it was a set up, that the Vietnamese had it all planned. I hardly even thought about where I was sitting. It all had nothing to do with where I was sitting. Everyone was laughing and clapping, including me… someone (I don’t remember who) led me towards the gun, and I sat down, still laughing, still applauding. I knew I was slaughtering it, but everyone seemed delighted that I was making the attempt. “It happened on my last day in Hanoi…The translator told me that the soldiers wanted to sing me a song… The soldiers asked me to sing for them in return…I memorized a song called Day Ma Di, written by anti-war South Vietnamese students. In 2011, Fonda had released her side of the story in a statement on her official website about the incident:
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