Alyssa Milano Arrested Outside The White House
Alyssa Milano just got the cuffs slapped on her outside the White House!
This article is more than 2 years old
You may have known her as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter in Commando, Tony Danza’s daughter in Who’s the Boss? or one of the witch heroes of Charmed. But these days Alyssa Milano is arguably making a lot more noise in the arena of political activism than she is in Hollywood, and that more recent form of prominence just got cuffs slapped on the actress’ wrists. Milano was arrested yesterday outside the White House in Washington DC.
It was Alyssa Milano herself who made the announcement on twitter that she’d been arrested. The actress/activist has 3.6 million followers on the popular social media platform and yesterday afternoon she let them all know that she’d been arrested “for demanding the Biden Administration and the Senate to use their mandate to protect voting rights.” You can see the tweet below.
Alyssa Milano wasn’t the only activist to be arrested. According to Yahoo News‘ coverage, Alyssa Milano was in front of the White House as part of the People for the American Way. According to The Hill, that group’s president Ben Jealous and 23 other participants were likewise arrested. There’s no word yet on what, if anything, Milano and the other protesters are being charged with or if they’ve been released.
Alyssa Milano and the other protesters were there in support of the Freedom To Vote Act — a lightened version of a similar bill that Republican lawmakers blocked in June. If passed, among other things the new law would make Election Day a federal holiday, create an early voting window of at least 15 days, and a “relaxed” registration process for voters. In a statement recorded during the protest, Milano explained the urgency of the legislation and other laws like it, saying that in 2021 there have been “425 pieces of legislation introduced” nationwide, with the express purpose of “making it more difficult for people to vote.” She also said this legislation, more often than not is “targeting communities of color, and restricting access to the ballet box.” You can see the recording below.
Alyssa Milano’s activism includes being responsible for the re-emergence of the phrase “Me too” in the arena of advocacy for victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment. The tag was originally used in the aughts on Myspace by survivor Tarana Burke, but it was Milano who revived it in 2017, thus helping to bring so much to light in Hollywood, including the crimes of prolific film producer Harvey Weinstein. While she would never face arrest for #MeToo, Milano did face accusations of hypocrisy from her former Charmed cast member Rose McGowan. McGowan attacked Milano on twitter in April 2020, naming her “a fraud” for continuing to support and endorse Joe Biden for the United States presidency in spite of sexual assault allegations from former Senate staffer Tara Reade.
Hopefully for Alyssa Milano’s political calendar, the actress/activist will be released soon if she hasn’t already. According to a pinned tweet, Milano is scheduled to testify before Congress tomorrow in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. The proposed amendment seeks to “guarantee equal legal rights” regardless of sex, specifically in matters of divorce, property, and employment.
