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A group of wealthy Hollywood celebrities and activists marked America’s 250th anniversary by launching a video campaign encouraging Americans to oppose President Donald Trump’s administration.
The video, which debuted on Variety, featured dozens of celebrities, including Mark Ruffalo, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ted Danson and Judd Apatow. During the nearly 10-minute video, they recite rules from the 2017 book “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” written by author and historian Timothy Snyder.
Toward the start of the video, Snyder warns viewers that this November’s midterm elections are a “turning point” for the country, saying voters will either move in the right direction or things will get worse.
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“Today, the Republic is 250 years old. Strange though it is for me, this book has been along with the Republic for the last 10 years. I wrote it in November of 2016,” Snyder said in the clip.
“As I look ahead to this coming November, I see a turning point for our Republic,” he added. “A time when things could turn very well, or they could turn very ill indeed.”
Reading from the book and its suggestions on how a nation turns to tyranny, celebrities recited lines including “Do not obey in advance,” delivered by Leslie Odom Jr., Sheryl Lee Ralph and Holland Taylor. Another, “Beware of the one-party state,” was read by Isabel Allende and Lisa Rinna.
Actor Mark Ruffalo, known for appearing in Marvel’s “Avengers” films, explained his reason for participating in the video when speaking with Variety. Ruffalo has long been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration.
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“My hope is that after this very bad and corrupt time we are living through now, we move away from a government that caters to the wealthy and powerful and focuses on the needs, desires and dreams of the children and young people,” Ruffalo told Variety, later adding, “Keep America moving toward its great promise and not the measly mistakes and cruelty of its past.”
A split image shows Sarah Jessica Parker, left, Ted Danson, center, and Mark Ruffalo, right. The actors participated in a July 4 video urging Americans to oppose what they described as tyranny. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images for HBO; Shannon Stapleton/POOL/AFP via Getty Images; Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
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Ruffalo also called for closing the wealth gap, cherishing the planet and leaving behind the “colonial mindset of land theft, extractive economies, domination and materialism; embrace the Indigenous wisdom and worldview of circular economies, respect for all things and beings as our relatives and, therefore, worthy of our care and thoughtfulness.”
Snyder also posted his Substack video to X with the caption: “To celebrate a rebellion is to know that, from a flawed world, we can make new things. We can hold on, we can find each other, and not just imagine but create a much better America. It is a special 250th – it is ours.”
Under the description of his video, Snyder directly took aim at the current 250th anniversary celebrations, writing that the leaders behind them represent a “threat to liberty.”
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President Donald Trump spoke during a rally at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 3, 2026, in Keystone, South Dakota. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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“Sadly, those who lead our official celebration today represent every threat to liberty that the founders named: arbitrary rule; indifference to law; undue accumulation of wealth; corruption of the government to attain that wealth; collusion with foreign powers to attain power,” he wrote.
He also listed the participants, including Isabel Allende, Judd Apatow, Margaret Atwood, Joan Baez, Sophia Bush, Misha Collins, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Ted Danson, Ron Funches, Tony Goldwyn, Eric Holder, Jenifer Lewis, Leslie Odom Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Porter, Maria Ressa, Lisa Rinna, Molly Ringwald, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, Holland Taylor, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Bradley Whitford.
Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
