When reflecting on the night she lost the election to Donald Trump, Harris didn’t hold back her emotions. The former Vice President told the audience that she was overwhelmed by grief — a feeling she compared to mourning the death of her own mother.
“I couldn’t articulate anything else — I kept saying over and over again, ‘My God, my God,’” Harris recalled, her voice steady but weighted with memory. “I had never felt that level of pain and grief except when my mother died, and it was grieving for the country. I knew what was going to happen.”
Her reflection offered a rare glimpse into the personal toll of public loss — the emotional aftermath that few politicians speak about so openly.
For Harris, that moment became a turning point, shaping her resolve to keep fighting for democratic values and to reconnect with people through honesty and storytelling.
That raw vulnerability set the tone for the rest of her talk, where she challenged Hollywood’s writers and creators to channel their own emotional truth into their work.
“You’re living history,” Harris reminded them. “And history is being written through emotion as much as through policy or power.”
Unfiltered Energy at Unreasonable Conversation Summit
The former Vice President made the honest remark at the fourth annual A Day of Unreasonable Conversation at The Getty Center in Los Angeles, where she also urged Hollywood’s most influential creators to use their platforms fearlessly amid rising censorship and political polarization.
The event — co-chaired by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Greg Berlanti, and Simpson Street producing partners Kerry Washington and Pilar Savone — was designed to push boundaries through candid conversations that bridge entertainment, politics, and culture. With The summit drew top names across film, television, and academia.
Harris, promoting her new book 107 Days, received a standing ovation for her raw, unfiltered energy before sharing a deeply personal reflection on the night she lost the presidential election to Donald Trump.
These Motherf***ers Are Crazy!
In a powerful exchange with WNBA star Napheesa Collier, Harris argued that artists and storytellers have a historic role to play during divisive times.
“We are living history right now and you all as storytellers are living this,” she said. “You’re not passive observers… all the emotions we are feeling, give those emotions to those you’re writing about and for.”
Then, in a moment that electrified the room, Harris added with unapologetic candor:
“Because there is so much about this moment that is trying to make people feel like they’ve lost their minds, when in fact, these motherf***ers are crazy.”
The crowd erupted in laughter and applause as Harris cheekily dubbed her post-campaign openness *“The Freedom Tour.”*
The former Vice President also spoke directly to the challenges of truth-telling in an era of heightened scrutiny — referencing the temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show and the broader chilling effect on creative speech.
“I don’t envy some of the folks here who are being subtly — or not so subtly — sent signals that now is not the time to speak a certain level of truth,” she said. “Every person has to make that decision for themselves. But there will always be risk associated with speaking truth.”
Other highlights from the event included Gordon-Levitt’s pointed critique of artificial intelligence business models, calling out “unethical” data practices that exploit human creativity.
“If a tech company is allowed to just take what someone else did and make money with it without paying them,” he warned, “then what kind of economy are we going to have? This is dystopia that we could be heading for.”
Kerry Washington opened the day with a call to courage in storytelling, urging creatives to step beyond echo chambers:
“Good storytelling doesn’t live in the binary,” she said.
Savone added that the day was designed to challenge Hollywood’s comfort zones:
“Even in Hollywood, we can fall into the trap of hearing only perspectives closest to us — and when we do, our stories suffer.”
By the time Harris closed the summit, her fiery honesty had shifted the tone from conversation to conviction — reminding the energized audience that courage and truth are inseparable.
