Pro-Trump protester arrested after rushing stage at controversial ‘Julius Caesar’ production in New York
By Amy B Wang June 17
Two right-wing activists interrupted the Friday evening performance of a controversial production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in New York’s Central Park, causing a stir on social media — where numerous videos of the protest proliferated — and resulting in one woman’s arrest.
In the videos, a woman identified as Laura Loomer, an employee of the far-right website Rebel Media, can be seen storming the stage during the scene of the title character’s assassination, shouting “Stop the normalization of political violence against the right! This is unacceptable!”
The production of “Julius Caesar,” part of the popular free Shakespeare in the Park summer series at the park’s Delacorte Theater, has attracted controversy over its depiction of the title character, who resembles President Trump.
Some audience members yelled at Loomer to “get off the stage!” Soon, several security guards escorted her out of the theater amid shouts and boos from the audience.
Within the commotion, a second pro-Trump protester, Jack Posobiec, can be seen standing and yelling in the audience, “You are all Goebbels!” and “The blood of Steve Scalise is on your hands!” in reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels and to a shooting at a Virginia baseball field earlier in the week that critically injured Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).
Shortly afterward, Posobiec, too, was escorted out of the theater.
Conservatives, including Trump’s adult sons, have criticized the play, and the public outcry from the right prompted Delta Air Lines and Bank of America to pull their corporate sponsorship from the theater last week.
“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,” Delta said on Twitter last week.
The outcry also has sparked a debate about free speech, with some pointing out that Delta did not withdraw its funding from a 2012 production of “Julius Caesar” by the Acting Company and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis that staged the same play using an actor for the title character that resembled then-President Barack Obama.
In a string of tweets, the Public Theater confirmed the interruption at its Friday show and said it had been “part of a paid strategy driven by social media.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...in-new-york/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.a6977bc8c739
Poor li'l dears just can't handle freedom of speech. They need the whole country to be their safe space.
By Amy B Wang June 17
Two right-wing activists interrupted the Friday evening performance of a controversial production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in New York’s Central Park, causing a stir on social media — where numerous videos of the protest proliferated — and resulting in one woman’s arrest.
In the videos, a woman identified as Laura Loomer, an employee of the far-right website Rebel Media, can be seen storming the stage during the scene of the title character’s assassination, shouting “Stop the normalization of political violence against the right! This is unacceptable!”
The production of “Julius Caesar,” part of the popular free Shakespeare in the Park summer series at the park’s Delacorte Theater, has attracted controversy over its depiction of the title character, who resembles President Trump.
Some audience members yelled at Loomer to “get off the stage!” Soon, several security guards escorted her out of the theater amid shouts and boos from the audience.
Within the commotion, a second pro-Trump protester, Jack Posobiec, can be seen standing and yelling in the audience, “You are all Goebbels!” and “The blood of Steve Scalise is on your hands!” in reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels and to a shooting at a Virginia baseball field earlier in the week that critically injured Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).
Shortly afterward, Posobiec, too, was escorted out of the theater.
Conservatives, including Trump’s adult sons, have criticized the play, and the public outcry from the right prompted Delta Air Lines and Bank of America to pull their corporate sponsorship from the theater last week.
“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,” Delta said on Twitter last week.
The outcry also has sparked a debate about free speech, with some pointing out that Delta did not withdraw its funding from a 2012 production of “Julius Caesar” by the Acting Company and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis that staged the same play using an actor for the title character that resembled then-President Barack Obama.
In a string of tweets, the Public Theater confirmed the interruption at its Friday show and said it had been “part of a paid strategy driven by social media.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...in-new-york/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.a6977bc8c739
Poor li'l dears just can't handle freedom of speech. They need the whole country to be their safe space.
