Jane Fonda faces sound issues during SAG Awards 2025 acceptance speech

Jane Fonda can’t be silenced by mere technical sound issues.

The actress and the activist isn’t one to let a little technical difficulty steal the show—especially not on a night meant to celebrate her legendary career. 

While accepting the Life Achievement Award at the 2025 SAG Awards in Los Angeles, the 80 for Brady star found herself in the middle of an unexpected sound mishap when the pre-recorded announcer began speaking over her. 

But rather than letting the moment derail her speech, Fonda took it all in stride with her signature wit. 

“I can conjure up voices!” she joked, drawing laughter from the crowd before pressing on with her powerful message.

Jane Fonda’s SAG Awards 2025 acceptance speech:

Fonda, an icon whose career has spanned six decades across film, television, and theater, used her speech to highlight the role of actors in fostering understanding.

“What we, actors, create is empathy. Our job is to understand another human being so profoundly that we can touch their souls,” she said. 

She also made it clear that empathy isn’t something to shy away from. “And make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke. By the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.”

Reflecting on her career, Fonda described it as anything but predictable. 

“I’ve had a really weird career—totally unstrategic,” she admitted. “I retired for 15 years and came back at 65, which is not usual. I made one of my most successful movies in my 80s. And probably in my 90s, I’ll be doing my own stunts in an action movie.” 

She also poked fun at herself, recalling how acting gave her an outlet in an era when women were often discouraged from expressing strong opinions. 

“I grew up in the ’40s and ’50s when women weren’t supposed to have opinions and get angry,” she shared. “Acting gave me a chance to play angry women with opinions, which, you know, is a bit of a stretch for me.”

Beyond her contributions to the screen, Fonda has been an unwavering force in activism, standing up for civil rights, gender equality, and environmental causes.

She reminded the audience of Hollywood’s historical resistance against oppression.

“I made my first movie in 1958. It was at the tail end of McCarthyism, when so many careers were destroyed,” she said. “Today, it’s helpful to remember, though, that Hollywood resisted. We did.” 

Then, she posed a thought-provoking question, “Have any of you ever watched a documentary of one of the great social movements—of apartheid or civil rights or Stonewall—and ask yourself would you have been brave enough to walk the bridge? Would you have been able to take the hoses and the batons and the dogs?”

She didn’t wait for an answer. “We don’t have to wonder anymore, because we are in our documentary moments. This is it, and it’s not a rehearsal!”

As her speech came to a close, Fonda left the audience with a rallying cry to stay united in the face of uncertainty. 

“We mustn’t, for a moment, kid ourselves about what is happening. This is big time serious, folks. Let’s be brave. We must not isolate. We must stay in community. We must help the vulnerable. We must find ways to project an inspiriting vision of the future.” 

But she also assured them that hope remains. “On the other side, there will still be love, there will still be beauty, and there will be an ocean of truth for us to swim in.”

It was a speech that had everything—passion, humor, resilience, and a clear reminder of why Fonda has remained a force in Hollywood and beyond. 

And if anyone was still wondering whether she could command a room, technical glitches and all, the answer was loud and clear, absolutely.