Trump ban 'utterly devastating' Dev Patel tells SAG awards as Hollywood speaks out against controversial executive order

Actor Dev Patel has branded Donald Trump's controversial travel ban "horrible" and "divisive" as he arrived at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards.

The Slumdog Millionaire star said he found it "utterly devastating" that the US president had decided to ban nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering America.

He told the SAG Awards' official red carpet live stream: "I just flew in from India a day ago. When I heard the news it was utterly devastating.

"The first thing that came into my head was the children who arrive on these shores with hope in their hearts.

"It's horrible. It's divisive.

"I hope something changes and something can be done because it really is terrible."

Patel is nominated for best supporting actor at the SAG Awards for his performance in Lion, the true story of Saroo Brierley, a young Indian boy who was separated from his family and adopted in Australia.

The former Skins actor, who has also earned an Oscar nomination, is among a host of British stars up for awards at the ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

British actor Riz Ahmed meanwhile  urged people to "make your voices heard" and revealed he knew people hit by the US travel ban, which affects nationals from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. He told the live stream: "Now is not a time for escapism.

"If people care about the future of this country and the world ... it's time to make your voices heard."

Ahmed, 34, also said he had launched a campaign to help young Syrian refugees.

The Rogue One star, whose parents moved to the UK from Pakistan, is nominated for best actor in a limited TV series for his role in HBO crime drama The Night Of.

Singer John Legend also criticised Mr Trump's refugee ban.

He said: "Everything our government does is being done in our name.

"I believe our country should be open and inclusive, particularly for refugees fleeing war-torn areas.

"They are fleeing terrorism, they are fleeing war, they are fleeing genocide."

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who won the television comedy actor Screen Actors Guild Awards for her role on the HBO series "Veep," mixed comedy and seriousness in her acceptance speech, joking that whether the Russians interfered in the voting and led to her victory, she was the legitimate winner.

She then turned serious, saying her father fled Nazi-occupied France and calling the immigration restrictions imposed by Donald Trump a blemish on American history.

Dreyfus said: "I love this country. I am horrified by its blemishes. This immigrant ban is a blemish and it's un-American."

Actor Ashton Kutcher had opened the show at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles by welcoming "everyone in airports who belong in America".

"You are a part of the fabric of who we are and we love you and we welcome you," he said.

Big Bang Theory actor Simon Helberg held a sign which read "refugees welcome" as he walked the red carpet.

He was joined by wife Jocelyn Towne who had the words "let them in" written across her chest.

The executive order has already been felt strongly in Hollywood. Earlier on Sunday, the celebrated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose "The Salesman" is Oscar-nominated for best foreign language film, said the ban was "in no way acceptable" and that he would not attend the Academy Awards even if it was permitted.

 

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