Sponsors of a Manhattan-based theater company’s portrayal of Julius Caesar are pulling funding for the production after the company chose to present Caesar as a Trump look-alike who gets stabbed to death during the play.
Both Delta Air Lines and Bank of America announced they would be pulling their sponsorship of the production at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater on Sunday, Fox News reports.
Stop taxpayer funded Shakespeare in Central Park! This is disgusting!@Delta @nytimes @BankofAmerica @AmericanExpress pic.twitter.com/nizfoKjj3b
— Lady Di #MAGA (@Dianne09314822) June 11, 2017
“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 airline company said in a statement. “Their artistic and creative direction crossed the line on the standards of good taste.”
Bank of America also voiced its disapproval and claimed it never would have sponsored it in the first place if it knew what the theater company planned to do.
“The Public Theater chose to present Julius Caesar in such a way that was intended to provoke and offend,” the bank said in a tweet. “Had this intention been made known to us, we would have decided not to sponsor it.”
Thank you @Delta and @BankofAmerica. This was the right thing to do… https://t.co/COOfg9QqUq
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) June 12, 2017
The famous Shakespeare play is about a Roman ruler who is assassinated by senators who fear their emperor is becoming a tyrant. Although the fictional play takes place in ancient Rome, the theater company chose to depict Caesar as a man in a business suit who resembles the president.
The “Julius Caesar” production began in late May and is scheduled to run through June 18.