"An actor's only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us and let you feel what that feels like, and there are many, many performances this year that did just that," she said. "There was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. It was because it did its job. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart and I still can't get it out of my head because it wasn't in a movie. It was real life."
Trump denied making fun of journalist Serge Kovaleski during a 2015 rally, but was highly criticized for flailing his arms and mocking Kovaleski.
Streep also referenced Trump's proposed plan to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S. and to ban Muslims from the country, as well as his previous demands for President Barack Obama's birth certificate.
"Amy Adams was born in Vicenza, Italy. And Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem," she said. "Where are their birth certificates? And the beautiful Ruth Negga was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, raised in London -- no, in Ireland I do believe -- and she's here nominated for playing a girl in small-town Virginia. Ryan Gosling, like all of the nicest people, is Canadian, and Dev Patel was born in Kenya, raised in London, and is here playing an Indian raised in Tasmania.
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. If we kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and Mixed Martial Arts -- which are not the arts."
In response, Trump took to Twitter Monday, calling the actress "overrated" and "a Hillary flunky."
Trump asserted "for the 100th time" that he did not ridicule Kovaleski.
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