Meryl Streep's Golden Globes speech leads to massive boost in donations for press freedom group

Meryl Streep’s rebuke of Donald Trump at the Golden Globes had a predictable outcome. It was widely lauded by Hollywood stars and prompted a Twitter tirade from the President-elect.

However there was an altogether more unexpected consequence. The emotionally charged acceptance speech for a lifetime achievement award, in which Streep attacked the billionaire developer for imitating a disabled reporter, has triggered a slew of donations to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In her call to action, Streep urged the Hollywood community to support the organisation which promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.

“So I only ask the famously well-heeled Hollywood Foreign Press and all of us in our community to join me in supporting the Committee to Protect Journalists,” Streep said as she accepted the Cecil B DeMille award on Sunday night. “Because we’re gonna need them going forward, and they’ll need us to safeguard the truth.”

The head of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, has said the organisation received 500 new donations overnight and a couple hundred more over the course of Monday.

“They continue to come in and it’s mostly average people based on the size of the donation, so that’s really encouraging. Obviously, separately, it’s just enormous visibility and resonance about what’s at stake here,” Simon told the Hollywood Reporter.

“The thing about Meryl Streep is that we’re used to journalists championing this issue. She said the press needs to go out there and do what it needs to do and needs to be defended by all of us.”

Simon commented on the fact Mr Trump does not like being criticised by the press and questioned whether this anger would translate into concrete policy once he is inaugurated in ten days time.

“Trump does not like to be criticised in the media. The media will criticise him and expose him in ways he doesn’t like. He’ll be angry, no question. Will it just be angry rants and tweets, or will it be translated into policies that are detrimental to how the media functions? We’ll see.”

Streep’s viral speech about Mr Trump prompted a characteristic Twitter tirade from the Republican. He said she was one of the most “over-rated actresses in Hollywood” and is a “Hillary flunky who lost big”.

He also denied the fact he had imitated a disabled reporter. “For the 100th time, I never ‘mocked’ a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him ‘groveling’ when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!”

In November 2015, Mr Trump was widely condemned for mocking Mr Kovaleski – who had disputed Mr Trump’s claim he witnessed “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating on the day of the 9/11 attacks.

Mr Trump jerked and flailed his arms in a manner which poked fun at the reporter’s condition. Mr Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition affecting how his joints move.

“There was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart,” Streep said in her speech. “It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back.”