At the annual Massachusetts Conference for Women in Boston on Thursday, Streep, in conversation with feminist activist Gloria Steinem, said that she and other notable women in Hollywood are making very specific demands to industry executives about the future – namely, she said, for equal pay. “We are after 50/50 by 2020,” she said, per U.S. News & World Report. “Equal means equal. And if it starts at the top, none of these shenanigans would have filtered down and it wouldn’t have been tolerated.” Streep has long been encouraging Congress to back the Equal Rights Amendment. In 2015, she sent every single member a package in the mail that contained a personal letter asking them to “stand up for equality – for your mother, your daughter, your sister, your wife or yourself – by actively supporting the Equal Rights Amendment” and a copy of E.R.A. Coalition President Jessica Neuwirth’s book, Equal Means Equal. Streep later said that Congress essentially ignored her plea. But, at the conference on Thursday, Streep said that now – as dozens of men, in Hollywood and beyond, fall from their positions of power after sexual assault allegations – is the time to, once again, demand change. “It’s such an interesting moment, because this conversation about why this is so widespread, this is really worth having and it’s fantastic,” she said. “I can’t help thinking it’s just a door that’s opening to a better world.” She called the recent allegations “the most gargantuan example of disrespect.” Her quote from the conference has been widely misquoted and misunderstood by everyone who doesn’t read beyond the headlines, so take your time to get the facts. Hopefully, a full video from the conference will be posted soon.

With the notable absence of President Donald Trump, the Kennedy Center on Sunday celebrated singers Lionel Richie and Gloria Estefan, rapper LL Cool J, television producer Norman Lear and dancer Carmen de Lavallade with honors for the arts. The Kennedy Center Honors are considered the highest recognition in the country for artists across many fields, and the importance of the annual event is usually underscored by a White House reception with the president and the first lady. Not this year. The White House said in August that Trump and his wife, Melania, would not attend, so that those honored could enjoy the event “without any political distraction.” The White House reception was also canceled after some honorees said they would boycott it. De Lavallade, 86, said she decided she could not attend such an event after Trump said both right- and left-wing extremists were at fault in a white supremacist rally in Virginia where one woman died. “Something in my soul … said no,” she told reporters. Meryl Streep kicked off a tribute to her one-time teacher De Lavallade, an actress and a dancer, who wiped tears from her eyes at the end of a powerful dance and musical performance of an American spiritual with a twist: “She’s Got the Whole World in Her Hands.” You can read more about the event over at Yahoo.com. CBS will broadcast the 40th Kennedy Center Honors show on Dec. 26. No official pictures of Streep’s appearance have been published so far.

The Massachusetts Conference for Women recently announced that Meryl Streep and Viola Davis will be keynote speakers at the Massachusetts Conference for Women on Dec. 7 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Adam Grant, top-rated Wharton Professor and best-selling co-author, with Sheryl Sandberg, of “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy” will also deliver a keynote address. “We are delighted to welcome Meryl Streep, Viola Davis and Adam Grant to the main stage in Boston,” said Gloria Larson, board chair of the Massachusetts Conference for Women. “This standout lineup of speakers, icons in the arts and in business, are sure to inspire attendees in ways they will long remember.” The 13th annual Massachusetts Conference for Women will host over 10,000 attendees for a full day of networking, inspiration, professional development and personal growth. In addition to a standout lineup of keynote speakers, the nonpartisan, nonprofit event will feature breakout sessions led by more than 150 experts and industry leaders about topical issues including building networks, branding, work-life balance, managing up, happiness and civility in the workplace and life. Registration is now open for the Conference and more exciting speaker announcements are to come. To register or learn more about the Conference, Opening Night and the Workplace Summit, visit maconferenceforwomen.org. Thanks to Frank for the heads-up.

The promotion for “The Post” is on a roll – here’s hoping it’ll last until its limited release on December 22. Yesterday, Meryl has attended a press conference for the film in Beverly Hills. On Monday, besides the aforementioned Q&A at the Directors Guild of America, a second Q&A has taken place at the SAG Foundation, with Streep, Hanks and Bradley Whitford in attendance. There are no official videos yet, so the mobile filmed ones have been added to the video archive, alongside a first batch of television spots.

Steven Spielberg unveiled his latest movie, The Post, in New York City Sunday night with a screening and panel alongside Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Bob Odenkirk and Matthew Rhys. You can view the Q&A in the video archive on Simply Streep with many thanks to GoldDerby. The Fox newspaper drama recounts how the Washington Post’s publisher Katharine Graham (Streep) and editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks) teamed up to catch up with The New York Times and publish the Pentagon Papers, risking court sanctions to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets related to the Vietnam War that spanned three decades and four U.S. Presidents. Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Tracy Letts, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford and Zach Woods are among the ensemble cast of the movie, which is dedicated to the late Nora Ephron. Though reviews and social media judgments from those who attended the screening are under strict embargo, the audience at AMC Lincoln Square greeted Spielberg and the cast with a standing ovation. During the post-screening panel, Spielberg outlined how the movie quickly came together over the space of just nine months, from the moment producer Amy Pascal flagged Liz Hannah’s spec script to the movie’s first screening. An in-depth article can be found over at The Hollywood Reporter.

Meryl Streep made a surprise appearance at the annual awards for the Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday night to claim that reporters were navigating a “dangerous” and “poisonous” climate in order to protect the U.S. from demagoguery. She said her own brushes with violent men – including an occasion when she said she had to play dead – had taught her about the bravery and brilliance of women who stand up to powerful men. “I get to meet my heroes,” she said, speaking at the Grand Hyatt in New York. “I really came here tonight to thank you—that’s all. Really, thank you. Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. You are the Fourth Estate. You are our first line of defense against tyranny and state-sanctioned news.” Streep admitted that journalism was currently damaging her industry almost as much as some politicians, but she paid tribute in particular to female investigative journalists exposing abuse. “You are the enemy of the people, yeah! Just the bad people. And I, on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you,” she said. “Thank you, you intrepid, underpaid, over-extended, trolled, and un-extolled, young and old, battered and bold, bought and sold, hyper-alert crack-caffeine fiends. You’re gorgeous, ambitious, contrarian, fiery, dogged and determined bullshit detectives. You’re persevering, cool, objective, indefatigable, chronically fatigued, pharmaceutically soothed, chocolate-comforted Twitter clickers.” Streep said there had never been a more dangerous time to be a female investigative journalist. “We do recognize the special cocktail of venom and ridicule which is always tinged with sexual threat that’s served up online for women—any woman in any profession—that stands up to tell the truth. I revere the people who do this because I am not a naturally brave person,” she said. Pictures have been added to the photo gallery, with many thanks to Mélissa for the heads-up!

Meryl Streep and director Danny Boyle were among the big names who turned out to support a fundraiser Thursday benefiting a charity that helps refugees. According to its website, IRC ‘responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future.’ Pictures have been added to the photo gallery.

Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg have rehearsed their red carpet appeal at yesterday’s screening of the HBO documentary “Spielberg”, about – you’ve guessed it, the visionary director’s career. Streep and Spielberg will share many more photo calls in December when their film “The Post” is being promoted. Additional coverage from Showbiz411: It was just your basic night at Alice Tully Hall for HBO and the premiere of Susan Lacy’s stunning “Spielberg” documentary. HBO welcomed a select crowd across the street for dinner at Lincoln Restaurant, where Spielberg and wife Kate Capshaw had the whole family– lots of kids, and lots of friends: Blythe Danner, her son Jake Paltrow, his wife photographer Taryn Simon, plus Meryl Streep, Tony Bennett, Mike Myers, Barry Levinson, Paul Haggis, Greta Gerwig, Danny Strong, plus HBO’s Richard Plepler, as well as actor Bob Balaban and writer wife Lynn Grossman, Gina Gershon, Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue, Bennett Miller, and Spielberg’s legendary publicist since “Close Encounters,” Marvin Levy, the dean of Hollywood flacks. “Spielberg” begins airing on HBO tomorrow night. You’ve never had such a good reason stay home on a Saturday night.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Meryl Streep will present her Doubt co-star Amy Adams with this year’s American Cinematheque Award. Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hanks, Chris Messina, Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart will also be on hand at the Nov. 10 event to toast the Arrival actress. The American Cinematheque Award ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton. Proceeds from the evening will go toward the year-round programs of the nonprofit American Cinematheque, which includes programming at the Egyptian Theatre and the Aero in Santa Monica. Adams will next be seen in Justice League Part One, reprising her role of Lois Lane, and is set to star in HBO’s Gillian Flynn adaptation Sharp Objects. The American Cinematheque Award is usually broadcast as well, although no date has been given. Streep and Adams are two-time co-stars, having shared the screen in “Doubt” and at least the film although no scenes in “Julie & Julia”. Many thanks to Glenn and Frank for the heads-up.

Meryl Streep has made a surprise visit yesterday at Michael Moore’s Broadway performance of “Michael Moore: The Terms of my Surrender”. Moore, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, brings his unrivaled powers of provocation and satire to the stage for the first time in The Terms of My Surrender, a world premiere one-man play, which has been described as an “exhilarating, urgent show is a hysterical theatrical coup d’etat that takes the utter lunacy of our times and turns it into a subversive piece of theatre”. Pictures from the backstage visit have been added to the photo gallery.