Jane Fonda Wears ‘Block the Merger’ Pin to Oscars Party and Blasts Paramount Buying Warner Bros. After ‘Sinners’ and ‘One Battle’ Win Big: ‘We Have to Stop It’

Jane Fonda put the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal on blast after the Oscars when she walked the red carpet at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party wearing a “Block the Merger” pin. Fonda, a two-time Oscar winner, is firmly against Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros., and her decision to speak out after the Oscars ceremony was even more notable given that Warner Bros. walked away with 11 wins, tying the record for most wins by a studio in a single night at the Academy Awards.

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“We have to try. The mergers are going to be bad for workers. A lot of people are going to lose their jobs,” Fonda told Variety’s Marc Malkin about wearing a “Block the Merger” pin. “We’re going to have higher prices. We’re going to have political control of what we do. That’s why Hegseth said, ‘CNN can’t come soon enough’ to be under the control of Paramount.”

Fonda is referring to a March 13 press briefing where Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said “the sooner David Ellison takes over [CNN], the better.”

“We know Trump wants to hurt… I mean, I slept with the guy who created it! I have a personal stake in it,” Fonda then added about CNN, referring to her 10-year marriage to network founder Ted Turner. “[CNN] did not take positions. It reported the news. To see what’s happening now… we have to stop [it]… This pin is any merger, but the Paramount merger is really problematic. In order to get the permission to do the merger, they felt they had to cave to what Trump wanted. But we’re going to win.”

Warner Bros. was behind the year’s two biggest Oscars juggernauts, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” (six wins, including best picture, director and supporting actor) and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” (four wins, including best actor and original screenplay). The studio was also home to “Weapons,” which won Amy Madigan the best supporting actress trophy.