Jane Fonda’s SAG speech didn’t just celebrate her legendary career, it also reignited the internet’s obsession with the feud between Sebastian Stan and Adrien Brody!
Honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Sunday’s ceremony, Fonda was introduced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus before delivering a heartfelt speech. She reflected on her love for acting, and her dedication to social justice, and even gave a shoutout to Sebastian Stan. And here is how things went south!
Jane Fonda reignited the Sebastian Stan and Adrien Brody feud!
While emphasizing the power of empathy in acting, Jane Fonda didn’t hold back from taking a sharp dig at Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In the midst of her speech, she also made a pointed reference to Sebastian Stan’s portrayal of Trump in the 2024 biopic The Apprentice, and that is where the drama started! She said (via ET),
And I’m sure many of you guys have played bullies and misogynists, and you can pretty much know that probably their father bullied them and called men that he felt were weak ‘losers’ … And while you may hate the behavior of your character, you have to understand and empathize with the traumatized person you’re playing, right? I’m thinking Sebastian Stan in ‘The Apprentice.’
Make no mistake, empathy is not weak or ‘woke.’ And by the way, ‘woke’ just means you give a damn about other people.
This moment alone was enough to stir controversy, but what really sent the internet into a frenzy was when Fonda mentioned Stan’s name, the camera didn’t cut to Sebastian Stan, who was absent, but instead landed on Adrien Brody. And just like that, speculation took off!
Of course, Stan’s absence wasn’t shocking, he wasn’t nominated for The Apprentice at the SAG Awards. But that subtle camera work was more than enough to make the people at home go crazy!
What is the drama between Sebastian Stan and Adrien Brody?
Is there real tension between Sebastian Stan and Adrien Brody, or is the internet just having too much fun? Their so-called “feud “ has become a running gag across Hollywood award shows, with fans obsessing over every interaction, or lack thereof, between the two.
Things really took off after a Hollywood Reporter Roundtable in December, where Brody spoke about lessons learned in his career. While the other A-listers, including Stan, listened intently, the camera caught The Apprentice star with an expression that many claimed looked like “disgust“. The internet ran wild with theories, despite the fact that this interview happened long before The Brutalist‘s AI controversy.
![Adrien Brody in The Brutalist (2024) [Credit A24, Universal Pictures, Focus Pictures]](https://fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/25151418/adrien-brody-the-thin-red-line-1024x512.jpg "Sebastian Stan Was a No-Show at 2025 SAG Awards but Jane Fonda May Have Reignited His Ongoing Beef With Adrien Brody 5")
What was the AI controversy? The Brutalist, the film, which has been a major talking point this awards season, sparked backlash when its Oscar-nominated editor, David Jancso, admitted to using AI-generated voice technology to tweak the Hungarian accents of Brody and co-star Felicity Jones. Many viewers were put off by the revelation.
Now, every time Brody takes center stage, fans zoom in on Stan’s reactions, and the SAG was no exception as well!
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