Stars represent Time's Up movement at BAFTA film awards

Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Stars wore black in support of the Time's Up movement at the EE British Academy Film Awards Sunday in London to show support of women who are speaking out against sexual harassment and abuse.

Artists who wore black to the event included Lupita Lyong'o, Sam Rockwell, Jennifer Lawrence, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Octavia Spencer, Margot Robbie, Naomie Harris, Daniel Kaluuya, Saoirse Ronan, Andrea Riseborough, Gemma Arterton and Gary Oldman, among others.

Feminist activists were brought onto the red carpet as dates to the BAFTAs. Arterton was accompanied by former sewing machine operators Eileen Pullen and Gwen Davis, who staged a three week walk-out at a Ford plant in 1968 after learning they were paid 15 percent less that their male counterparts, and Riseborough brought trade unionist and co-founder of U.K. Black Pride Phyll Opoku-Gyimah. Harris, Tessa Thompson and Gemma Chan also brought along activists.

Best Leading Actress winner Frances McDormand, who did not wear black, offered her support to the Time's Up movement onstage while accepting her award. "I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters in black. I appreciate well-organized civil disobedience," she said.

McDormand's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri co-star Rockwell, who won the award for Supporting Actor, also spoke of the Time's Up movement onstage saying that he "stands on the shoulders of women, strong, intelligent and righteous women," adding that it was "important to represent, important to listen. It's respectful."

Ronan, Emma Watson, Carey Mulligan Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson and more published an open letter before the ceremony in The Observer asking for an end to sexual harassment and abuse.

"As we approach the Baftas - our industry's time for celebration and acknowledgment, we hope we can celebrate this tremendous moment of solidarity and unity across borders by coming together and making this movement international," the letter said.

"There is no question that Time's Up should be and will be a global movement," it continued. "A movement that is defined and led by those affected by the problem, not by those in power."