Kerry Washington and ‘Scandal’ Cast Reunite in Michigan for Reproductive Rights
The Scandal cast came out for reproductive rights on Sunday, and they captured their Michigan reunion event with a social media blitz.
Kerry Washington — who starred on Shonda Rhimes‘ hit ABC political drama as Washington, D.C. fixer Olivia Pope — was joined by her former castmates Tony Goldwyn, Guillermo Díaz, Bellamy Young, Katie Lowes, Dan Bucatinsky, Scott Foley, Portia de Rossi, George Newbern, Jeff Perry and Cornelius Smith Jr. The ensemble came together — five years after their show went off the air in 2018 — to boost the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign’s Fighting for Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour that is traveling the country, with many of them sharing the day’s events on their Instagram Stories.
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Since kicking off in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 3, the bus tour has been making stops in key states, targeting both blue and red communities, to campaign for the Vice President and her running mate in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. The Scandal crew arrived at a canvass launch in Madison Heights for the first stop of the Michigan bus tour on Sunday.
“Why are we here? Why is the cast of Scandal in Michigan?” Washington asked a crowd of about 130 people at the Plumbers Local Union 98 headquarters, according to the Detroit News. The actress, producer and activist shared some of her speech on her Instagram, while the full speech was captured on TikTok by her production house, Simpson Street Impact, on their account.
“The reason we’re here is because we know that Michigan is where it’s at. We know that, although we get told on a regular basis — because we were so blessed to be a part of a really special show — that we need to ‘fix stuff,’ that we need to ‘handle it,’ [that we need] to come in and take care of a crisis,” she said, borrowing the familiar catchphrases from her character Olivia Pope, “the reality is that you are the real gladiators.” (On Scandal, Olivia and her team of skilled fixers were known as the Gladiators.)
Smith Jr., a Detroit native, added, “We see you. We feel you, and we are with you. This is our time. We have to claim it with our time and our energy.”
Washington also warned, according to the Detroit News, that voters can either choose Harris as president “or we can wake up to the nightmare of having a president that we’ve had before, who we know is coming after our rights. [A man] who has consistently attacked reproductive rights in the courts, and who has made it terrifyingly difficult for women to get lifesaving medical treatment.”
When taking the stage, Goldwyn, who played Republican President Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant on Scandal, told the crowd, “I’m here not just as your former president,” to big laughs, “I’m here as the husband of a woman who fought her entire life for equality and for equal footing with the men in her life, particularly the men in her workplace. I’m standing here as the father of two daughters who are less free and who have fewer rights than the generation before them. I’m standing here today as an American man who is outraged by the fact that one third American women of reproductive age live under a Trump abortion ban.”
In 2015, Scandal aired a groundbreaking abortion episode that changed the narrative around the topic for broadcast TV. The episode took on legislation looking to defund Planned Parenthood and featured Olivia (Washington) having an abortion, the baby more than likely belonging to Fitz (Goldwyn).
Washington recently told The Hollywood Reporter of her involvement in the 2024 election, “This isn’t just about candidates and election cycles. It’s about building a future where everyone understands their voice and their power within our democracy.”
On Monday when the Reproductive Freedom Bus tour continues, Severance star Adam Scott will appear in Ann Arbor to address supporters and volunteers on the University of Michigan campus.
The Scandal reunion, meanwhile, follows Washington and Goldwyn recently reuniting at the Democratic National Convention, where they were among the nightly Hollywood hosts and surprised with an onstage appearance together. Goldwyn hosted opening night; Washington hosted the final night when Harris officially accepted the party’s nomination.
This is the latest example of Hollywood coming out for Harris-Walz. Next up, the cast of HBO’s Veep will reunite for a virtual table read event on Sept. 29, organized by Wisconsin Democrats, of an episode that went viral when President Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Harris. Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus previously hosted a panel during the week of the DNC with the country’s eight Democratic governors.
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