Joan Baez, Graham Nash, Sean Ono Lennon and Others Sign Public Letter on Escalating Nuclear Threat

A diverse coalition of cultural luminaries—including Joan Baez, Graham Nash, Sean Ono Lennon, Allison Russell, Auli’i Cravalho and Josh Gad—has endorsed an open letter cautioning against the escalating nuclear peril. This statement was published on Wednesday, August 6, in The New York Times and Variety.

Titled “No More Hiroshimas, No More Nagasakis: Cultural Leaders for a Future Without Nuclear Weapons,” the manifesto recalls, “Eighty years ago, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and altered history irrevocably. Today, specialists warn that the likelihood of nuclear deployment—whether accidental or intentional—is at its peak. Conflicts are intensifying in regions possessing nuclear arsenals—indeed, they often revolve around these very weapons.”

“In just six months, the sole treaty curbing nuclear stockpiles will lapse. Advances in technology and AI introduce unforeseen vulnerabilities into an already intricate framework. We are hurtling toward an expensive and perilous arms race under the fallacy that mutual destruction secures peace. Yet, our fate is not sealed, and the creative community must spearhead efforts to avert nuclear catastrophe.”

Signatories commit to harnessing their influence, voice and storytelling prowess to spotlight the existential threats of nuclear armaments and to envision a more secure, weapon-free future.

Additional endorsers span actors and creatives such as Rosanna Arquette, Lawrence Bender, Kathryn Bigelow, Yvette Nicole Brown, James Cameron, Alan Cumming, Michael Douglas, Walton Goggins, Topher Grace, Clark Gregg, Harry Hamlin, Matthew Modine, Julianne Moore, Olivia Munn, Lisa Rinna, Martin Sheen, George Takei, Emma Thompson and Lily Tomlin.

Several participants have long histories of anti-nuclear activism: Graham Nash co-led the 1979 No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden, while Michael Douglas produced and starred in the nuclear thriller The China Syndrome that same year.

The initiative also garnered endorsement from the governors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as from Ernest J. Moniz, former U.S. Secretary of Energy and co-chair and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Highlighting today’s mounting nuclear risks, Moniz emphasized, “The chance of a nuclear detonation—whether accidental or deliberate—is increasing. We must choose between barreling toward disaster or uniting behind a strategy to eliminate these weapons.”

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