If Meryl Streep or another big name Hollywood star gets political on the Oscars stage on Sunday night, Donald Trump won’t see it.
At Wednesday’s White House press briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that he doesn’t know why actors have suddenly taken to criticizing the president while accepting awards this season.
“I have no idea. It’s a free country,” he said. “I think Hollywood is known for being rather far to the left in its opinions.”
Spicer also said that Trump will not be watching the ceremony live because he has other plans.
“I think the President will be hosting the Governor’s Ball that night,” he said. “Mrs. Trump looks forward to putting on a phenomenal event … And I have a feeling that that’s where the President and the First Lady are going to be focused on on Sunday night.”
One of Trump’s most prominent critics this award season has been Meryl Streep, who delivered an impassioned speech while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes last month.
Trump famously called the actress “overrated” after her address, which she followed with another emotional speech at the Manhattan gala for the Human Rights Campaign earlier this month. There, Streep said she’ll continue to stand up to Trump’s army of “brown-shirts and bots.”
Streep is nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars on Sunday for “Florence Foster Jenkins.”