Debra Messing Criticizes Ivanka Trump For 'Defending' Her Father Blindly On His Discriminatory Policies

“Will & Grace” star Debra Messing directly addressed first daughter Ivanka Trump Saturday night during her acceptance speech at the 2017 GLAAD Media Awards in New York City. Messing took the opportunity to criticize and call out Ivanka for defending her father and his discriminatory policies and not making an effort to stand up against them.

"It is not enough to simply say that women’s issues are important to you," Messing pleaded to the first daughter directly in her acceptance speech.

"It's time to do something. Ivanka, you can change the lives of millions of women and children just by telling your dad stories about real people who are suffering. Don't let him separate immigrant mothers from their American-born children…Don't allow him to make trans kids like Gavin [Grimm] fight in court for their basic human dignity,” she said.

Messing was honored with the "Excellence in Media Award" on Saturday at the GLAAD Media Awards. She is considered to be a long time gay icon because of her role in the NBC show named “Will & Grace,” where she played the role of a city-dwelling interior designer with a gay best friend. The show ran from 1998 to 2006. On the red carpet, Saturday, she told reporters that the award "means everything" to her.

"I'm incredibly emotional about it," she said referring to the honor she received.

"I'm trying not to ruin my makeup. When Vice President Biden said on 'Meet the Press' that 'Will & Grace' had done more to educate the country about LGBT issues than anything else, besides the birth of my son, that was the proudest moment of my life. And I think tonight I can fairly say is the third,” the “Will & Grace” star added.

While delivering her speech, she addressed the first daughter and spoke as “one Jewish mother to another.” Messing said she would make a “direct appeal” to Ivanka. She said she wanted Ivanka to “stop blindly defending” her father and start “defending what you say you believe in.”

“You can’t just write ‘womenwhowork’ and think you’re advancing feminism,” Messing added. “You need to be a woman who does good work #saywhatyoumeanandmeanwhatyousay.”

“Imagine how you’ll feel, sitting at Passover seder, if you can tell your children that you fought for justice and freedom,” continued the actress.

Messing has been a long time advocate for the LGBTQ community and has criticized President Donald Trump since he ran for the post. She often used her Twitter account to express her opinion on him and his administrative policies.

During her speech she thanked the LGBTQ community, and then slammed Trump by calling referring to him as a “very bad and very orange man in our White House.”

Messing is set to reprise her iconic role as Grace Adler this fall as NBC will be reviving “Will & Grace” for a 10-episode run, scheduled to air in September.

"I am not nervous at all!" Messing told New York Daily News about returning to the screen as Grace Adler.

"Everybody knows these characters; everybody knows the voice of the comedy. They know what to expect and so now it's just getting back together with old friends,” she said.