Activist Jane Fonda slams Exxon’s environmental record at forum it sponsored

Jane Fonda speaks (left) about the most important life lessons she’s learned during the YWCA’s Empowering the W Brunch at the South Stadium Club in LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Sunday, March 5, 2023.

Activist and actor Jane Fonda criticised ExxonMobil’s environmental record at a fundraiser the oil company sponsored earlier this month.

In response, the US company’s Baton Rouge arm released a social media post that largely diverted from Fonda’s barbs but also criticized “negative remarks” from the “out-of-town guest speaker.”

According to TheAdvocate.Com of Baton Rouge, the Facebook post, which did not mention Fonda by name, mostly praised Barbara Beckmann, a 60-year ExxonMobil employee who was honoured at the YWCA Greater Baton Rouge fundraiser that the oil company sponsored. However, it made a passing reference to Fonda’s attacks on the company’s environmental footprint.