Meryl Streep blasted US President-elect Donald Trump in her acceptance speech at the Golden Globe awards

She said: "Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if you kick us all out, you'll have nothing to watch except for football and mixed martial arts, which are not arts," Streep said. "But who are we, and what is Hollywood anyway? It's just a bunch of people from other places."

And referencing the time Trump appeared to mock a disabled journalist in November 2015, she said: "There was one performance this year that stunned me -- it sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth.

"It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter.

"It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can't get it out of my head, because it wasn't in a movie. It was real life."

She went on to claim Trump's actions have legitimised bullying.

She added: "This instinct to humiliate, when it's modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing.

"Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose."

The 'Florence Foster Jenkins' star's speech was met by cheers and a huge outbreak of support on Twitter.

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres posted: "There has never been anyone like Meryl Streep. I love her. #GoldenGlobes (sic)"

Filmmaker Judd Apatow wrote: "We will need a lot of people as clear and brave as Meryl Streep if we are to fight the corruption, bad ideas and lies of Donald Trump.(sic)"

Actresses Gina Rodriguez, Emmy Rossum, and Laverne Cox were also impressed by her words.

Gina simply wrote: "Meryl, you give me life."

Emmy posted: "HAVE NEVER LOVED MERYL MORE. BRAVO. WELL SAID."

And Laverne shared: "Everything she said. Thank you #MerylStreep for you work and everything you said tonight. #empathy."

But the former 'Apprentice' star was unconcerned by Meryl's words, dismissing her as a "Hillary lover" in a brief phone interview with the New York Times.

He said he hadn't heard her remarks but insisted he was "not surprised" to come under attack from "liberal movie people".