Liberals are honest. You can tell they’re honest because when you point out that NYC’s Shakespeare in the Park is staging Julius Caesar with an obvious Trump analogue, including a graphic depiction of the assassination scene, they say: “But he’s Julius Caesar. A guy named Shakespeare wrote the play, maybe you’ve heard of him?” They can’t help but remind us why they keep winning elections.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Shakespeare in the Park has the right to do this. However, that doesn’t mean anybody else is obliged to sponsor it.
New York’s Public Theater lost support from two high-profile corporate donors, Delta Air Lines and Bank of America, on Sunday amid intense criticism of its production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” which depicts the assassination of a Trump-like Roman ruler…
“No matter what your political stance may be, the graphic staging of ‘Julius Caesar’ at this summer’s Free Shakespeare in the Park does not reflect Delta Air Lines’ values,” the company said in a statement on Sunday night…
Bank of America followed hours later, saying it would withdraw financial support from the production of “Julius Caesar” but would not end its financial relationship with the theater, which a spokeswoman, Susan Atran, said had lasted for 11 years.
Note that Delta and Bank of America are donors. They have voluntarily donated money to this production. Now, they’re voluntarily withdrawing their support. That’s how it works in America, and that’s how it should work. You have the right to express yourself artistically, and nobody else is under any obligation whatsoever to help you.
Nobody’s getting carted off to jail over this. Nobody’s free speech is being threatened. The only victims here are the playgoers who wanted to enjoy some Shakespeare without being beaten over the head with the same partisan political message they get everywhere else, 24/7.
To be or not to be… that’s up to you.
(“Wrong play, idiot!”)