A Democrat-aligned group hosted a rival event to President Donald Trump’s White House UFC fight Sunday night, garnering a fraction of the views despite appearances from multiple celebrities.
While official numbers have not been released, the event on the White House lawn racked up millions of views for clips posted by UFC’s YouTube account. It also drew an estimated 80,000 who reportedly watched from the Ellipse. The progressives’ counter-programming fell short of just 200,000 views on the No Kings YouTube streaming called “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment” as of publication. The stream from actress Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment (CFA), the group behind the program, racked up just over 22,000 views, while CSPAN’s Youtube broadcast received less that 54,000 views. Fonda and other celebrities relaunched the CFA in October 2025, alleging that Trump’s administration was cracking down on free speech, NPR reported.
The show featured other progressive celebrities including ex-MSNBC host Joy Reid and actors Robert De Niro and Julia Roberts. Signs on stage throughout the evening read, “Resistance is built on hope” and, “WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.” (RELATED: INGERSOLL: Thank God, ‘And Lastly … Michelle Obama Is A Man!’)
Fonda opened the event with a monologue about free speech, saying, “They come for one of us, by God, they come for all of us.” Reid, who was fired in 2025, also spoke, lamenting the recent firing of ex-CBS employee Scott Pelley and other media figures by “far-right ideologues.”
“All of us shown the door for just doing our jobs,” Reid complained.
Reid alleged TV host Stephen Colbert was fired from CBS “because a certain orange asshole, whose name is no longer on the Kennedy Center, cannot take a joke!”
A women’s acapella group also made an appearance, humming tunes scolding “fascists” and vowing to “fight [them] at the gate.”
“The Right has totally squandered it’s newly-found cultural cachet- nevermind.” pic.twitter.com/HOaTYHUSZa
— KG (@interstatejuche) June 15, 2026
Actor Wilson Cruz took to the stage to complain about rainbow sidewalks being painted over in Texas. In October, Republican Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott ordered the state Transportation Department to strip funding from counties and cities putting political ideologies on streets. Houston city personnel removed rainbow crosswalks from the city’s Montrose neighborhood in late October, prompting locals to repain portions of them, KHOU11 reported.
“When the governor of Texas clicked his little boot spurs and had all the rainbow crosswalks painted over. Activists grabbed their brushes and painted the sidewalks instead,” Cruz said said, flanked by a drag queen. “Because that’s what we do. It goes to show that if you lower our flags, we will raise it back up, baby.”
Let’s check in on left-wing counter programming 😳 pic.twitter.com/zOXOr2XlnN
— Turning Point Action (@TPAction) June 15, 2026
Actor and producer Robert De Niro shouted expletives from the podium directed at the administration.
“When I hear Trump say, as he did a few days ago, I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation, not even a little bit, I say shut the fuck up,” De Niro said. “On Wednesday, Trump said, I love the inflation. Now say it with me. Shut the fuck up! Trump said he won the 2020 election. Ready? Shut the fuck up.”
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