Mark Ruffalo commiserated with attendees at the ACLU of Southern California’s Bill of Rights Awards on Sunday night, encouraging them to turn “despair” into action following Donald Trump’s decisive election victory last week.
The “Avengers” actor, a progressive activist who campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris, told the crowd at the Beverly Hilton: “We got our asses kicked.”
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but sometimes you have to spend a little time in bed before it happens. It was hard to come here, honestly,” he said, according to a video shared by The Hollywood Reporter.
Ruffalo, who was among the honorees at the American Civil Liberties Union event, acknowledged “the grief and the fear” that attendees might be feeling, “because I know I am.”
“We suffered a great loss,” he said. “It’s a loss that touches deeply on so much of what we’ve worked for and we’ve hoped for and dreamed of for such a long time now.”
Then, he suggested something “a little unorthodox,” inviting everyone to stand and hug the person next to them. “Tell each other you love each other, it’s going to be OK,” he said.
He ended his speech with a call to action.
Tommaso Boddi via Getty Images
“I’ve felt demoralization and despair so many times along the road of all of this, and the message I keep getting is if you’re losing hope, you’re not giving enough and you’re not doing enough,” he concluded, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Action is the very thing that pushes back despair.”
Other honorees at the event included WNBA star Brittney Griner and her wife Cherelle, actor Will Ferrell, former “Saturday Night Live” writer Harper Steele, and author Viet Thanh Nguyen.
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The awards are intended to “pay tribute to individuals who, through their joy, activism, and craft, have dared to create a more just and inclusive world,” according to ACLU SoCal.