The Buzz

The Buzz

Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys and Elizabeth Banks among host of stars at Democratic convention

By Lisa Gutierrez

lgutierrez@kcstar.com

The Republican National Convention was supposed to be the one to watch — the gathering that presidential candidate Donald Trump promised would be star-studded and not “boring” like past events.

He wound up with two soap stars, Willie Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” fame and B-list actor Scott Baio, who social media mocked mercilessly.

On the first night alone, the Democratic National Convention grabbed the title for most star-studded event - if that counts for anything.

On Monday Boyz II Men entertained delegates. Demi Lovato spoke, then sang. Eva Longoria spoke, Paul Simon sang. Sarah Silverman blasted her fellow Bernie Sanders followers for “being ridiculous” in not supporting her call for party unity.

More than 100 high-profile stars have joined a MoveOn.org campaign called “United Against Hate” in a defeat-Trump effort, which conservative website Breitbart dubbed “Panic Hollywood.”

The list includes Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Kerry Washington, Olivia Wilde, Julianne Moore, rapper Macklemore, Samuel L. Jackson, and TV showrunner Shonda Rhimes.

The parade of stars inside the Wells Fargo Center ramped up on Tuesday with an appearance by multi-Oscar winner Meryl Streep - and Twitter noticed.

“Hunger Games” actress Elizabeth Banks was the first star to appear Tuesday, trolling Trump by walking onstage the way Trump did in Cleveland — fog machine and all.

“Some of you know me from ‘The Hunger Games’ where I play Effie Trinket, a cruel, out of touch reality TV star who wears insane wigs while delivering long-winded speeches to a violent dystopia,” said the long-time Clinton supporter. “So when I tuned into Cleveland last week I was like, ‘hey, that’s my act.”

Some people on Twitter laughed, some people didn’t. “Elizabeth who?” the snarkiest snarked.

Tony Goldwyn, who plays President Fitzgerald Grant on the ABC hit “Scandal,” introduced the “Mothers of the Movement” — mothers of African-Americans whose deaths touched off demonstrations across the country.

Goldwyn got big cheers just by walking onto the stage, especially loud from women in the audience who no doubt have seen him make out with “Scandal” co-star Kerry Washington, aka Olivia Pope. Washington was one of the first to gush-tweet about his appearance.

After the mothers left the stage, singer Andra Day sang “Rise Up” as people in the audience dried their tears and collected themselves.

Actresses Lena Dunham and America Ferrera took the stage together.

“Hi, I’m Lena Dunham. And according to Donald Trump, my body is probably, like, a 2.”

“And I’m America Ferrera, and according to Donald Trump I’m probably a rapist.”

“We know what you’re all thinking,” Dunham told the crowd. “Why should you care what some television celebrity has to say about politics?”

“And we feel the same way,” Ferrera said. “But he IS the Republican nominee, so we need to talk about him.”

Let us be clear: Republicans who tweet can’t stand Dunham. Boy, they really don’t like her.

Inexplicably, Banks made more than one appearance during the night on the convention stage. Why, wondered Twitter, which still kept her trending for more than two hours.

Meryl Streep came out in a red, white and blue get-up — are there other words to describe it? — and couldn’t contain herself when she reached the podium. She shrieked, and all of Twitter heard her.

“We got some fight left in us, don’t we?” said the Oscar winner, unable to control her excitement.

Alicia Keys capped the night’s cavalcade of star turns by pleading for an end to gun violence, calling for unity and pointing out the historical significance of a possible female president with a mini concert.

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys and Elizabeth Banks among host of stars at Democratic convention."

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