Bryan Cranston Calls Out Trump at Tony Awards: ‘Media Is Not the Enemy’

By Rebecca Rubin

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Bryan Cranston took a moment to get political during Sunday night’s Tony Awards, blasting the president’s stance on the state of journalism.

“The media is not the enemy of the people. Demagoguery is the enemy of the people,” Cranston said, referencing Donald Trump’s frequent tweets about “fake news” and “corrupt media.”

Cranston, who won a Tony Award for portraying newsman Howard Beale in “Network,” dedicated his trophy to the press.

“I would like to dedicate this to all the real journalists around the world, both in the press and the print media and also broadcast media, who actually are in the line of fire with their pursuit of the truth,” Cranston said in his acceptance speech.

Cranston also took time to thank the creative team behind “,” along with his wife Robin Dearden,” who he jokes “encouraged me to go be mad as hell every night but says don’t bring it home.”

Backstage at the annual awards show celebrating Broadway’s biggest night, Cranston expanded on the notion that journalists aren’t public adversaries.

“It’s absurd to think the media is the enemy of the people,” Cranston said. “The perception of the truth is often more important than the truth because if people believe it, it doesn’t matter really if it’s true or not — people believe it.”

Cranston added that it’s important, as a society, we don’t try to “make enemies from people who have a different opinion.”

So the opposite message has to continue to be put out there, whether it’s diversity or the fight against the media, whether it’s women’s reproductive rights or voting rights. It’s important to keep sounding the alarm.”

James Corden hosted the 2019 , which took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York.