Ashton Kutcher Kicks Off SAG Awards Hours After Impassioned Protest of Refugee Ban: 'We Welcome You'

"You are a part of the fabric of who we are and we love you and we welcome you," Ashton Kutcher said at the SAG Awards

Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty

Ashton Kutcher kicked off the 2017 Screen Actor’s Guild Awards just hours after making fiery remarks against President Trump’s immigration ban.

“Good evening, fellow SAG members and everyone at home and everyone in airports that belong in my America,” Kutcher said. “You are a part of the fabric of who we are and we love you and we welcome you.”

Kutcher’s opening remarks echoed comments he made on Twitter Sunday afternoon about President Trump’s executive order that suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the U.S. for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The 38-year-old actor began by pointing out that his wife, Mila Kunis, came to the United States as a refugee. Kunis, who is of Jewish descent, emigrated to the United States from the Ukraine during the Cold War, which was then part of the Soviet Union.

“My wife came to this country on a refugee visa in the middle of the Cold War! My blood is boiling right now!” Ashton tweeted. “We have never been a nation built on fear. Compassion that is the root ethic of America. Our differences are fundamental 2R sustainability.”

Thousands of protestors gathered at airports across the country over the weekend to denounce Trump’s order and support the many travelers from Muslim-majority countries who were held at major airports.

During the ceremony, Kutcher tweeted again to blast those criticizing the actor’s political stand.
“If standing for the America that doesn’t discriminate makes me a left wing actor who is out of touch. F— it,” he wrote.

On Saturday, a federal judge blocked President Trump’s executive order — ruling that refugees already in the U.S. or in transit could not be deported, though that does not necessarily mean they will be allowed to enter the U.S.