Twitter Reacts To Trump Look-Alike Julius Caesar In NYC Play, Sponsors Back Out After Criticism

A New York City-based arts organization, the Public Theater, is being criticized for staging a production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" starring President Donald Trump look-alike Gregg Henry in the lead role. The play is a part of the organization's "Free Shakespeare in the Park," which is presented at the open-air Delacorte Theater in Central Park every year.

Two sponsors of the play, Delta Air Lines and Bank of America, have already pulled financial support to the production of "Julius Caesar" on Sunday because it was in poor taste and offensive.

“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 spokeswoman Ashton Morrow said in an emailed statement as reported by Bloomberg. “Their artistic and creative direction crossed the line on the standards of good taste.”

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Bank of America is also withdrawing funding, a spokeswoman said in an email, according to Bloomberg. The spokeswoman added that the Public Theater had chosen to present Julius Caesar in a way "that was intended to provoke and offend."

Twitter users reacted to the play, with some saying a comparison of Trump to Caesar was a compliment for the president.

There were also those who called the play "shocking" and "distasteful."

Jesse Green, writing a review of the play in the New York Times, which said: "Its depiction of a petulant, blondish Caesar in a blue suit, complete with gold bathtub and a pouty Slavic wife, takes onstage Trump-trolling to a startling new level... Naturally, some right-wing commenters are revving up their outrage over what they assume is an incitement to violence against the president."

Shakespeare's play focuses on the fatal stabbing of Caesar by former associates, and the subsequent fate of democratic institutions. The Public Theater faced criticism after Fox News reported Sunday that it "appears to depict President Trump being brutally stabbed to death by women and minorities".

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Trump son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted Sunday about the play, questioning the capability of "art" becoming a political speech.

Henry, who portrayed Caesar, told Backstage in an interview: "Julius Caesar was a general of great import in the world and an innovator and a great leader in many ways. But he became drunk with ego, drunk with power, drunk with ambition and the belief that he and he alone must rule the world. So you can take from our present politics and president certain things he said in the campaign and certain things he said since he’s been in office in terms of his outlook and in terms of his philosophy if you will."

"For instance, his mention of 'I’m the only person who can do it,' which he said several times during the campaign. And so the idea for me was to try and do some things that will represent and show you — and I have great costumes and wigs that show you that this could be Trump."