David Harbour may have delivered one of the most impassioned acceptance speeches of the night, but it was Winona Ryder who stole the show when the cast of “Stranger Things” took the stage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The Netflix series won the Actor for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series on Sunday, ending “Downton Abbey’s” two-year long SAG reign.
"[We] will repel bullies," #StrangerThings' David Harbour gets a standing ovation the #SAGawards https://t.co/ksrf2sx1lK pic.twitter.com/1jMg7KdO7N
— Variety (@Variety) January 30, 2017
No one was more surprised by the feat than Ryder, who grew even more stunned when Harbour read his politically-charged remarks. At times ecstatic and at other times perplexed, she underwent an emotional journey — worthy of an award of its own — on stage. It wasn’t long before videos and gifs of her animated expressions went viral.
https://twitter.com/Margit/status/825900003537408005
Ryder and costar Millie Bobby Brown were also both up for outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series.
“This is heavy,” Ryder could be heard saying last night while handing off the statuette to Harbour. The sentiment could also refer to Harbour’s anti-Trump speech, though.
“We are united in that we are all human beings and we are all together on this horrible, painful, joyous, exciting, and mysterious ride that is being alive,” Harbour said to a standing ovation. “As we act in the continuing narrative of ‘Stranger Things,’ we 1983 midwesterners will repel bullies. We will shelter freaks and outcasts, those who have no hope. We will get past the lies. We will hunt monsters. And when we are lost amidst the hypocrisy and the casual violence of certain individuals and organizations, we will, as per Chief Jim Hopper, punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the meek and the disenfranchised and the marginalized. And we will do it all with soul, with heart, and with joy.”