John Lithgow condemns Donald Trump’s election win a “pure disaster” for the arts
John Lithgow has spoken out against US President Donald Trump, branding his strategies as a “pure disaster” for the arts.
The actor was speaking after winning an Olivier Award on April 6th for his stage role playing Road Dahl in the play Giant, where he slammed Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
According to The Guardian, he said: “Our administration has done some shocking, destructive things, but the one that grieves me most is taking over the Kennedy Center. Deborah Rutter was fired from her position as president – even though she’d already resigned and had [several] months to go. She’s a very good friend of mine. We co-chaired a commission on the arts and spent three years finding out the state of the arts in America [was] in crisis.”
Lithgow added: “Well, it’s really in crisis now. First there was coronavirus, now there’s this.”
As much as the actor condemned Trump’s actions as disastrous for the industry, he did note that not all hope was lost. “It gives us all something to fight for and I think the arts are animated by that. Right now, everybody is in shock,” he said, before reasoning that “bad times create good art.”
Lithgow is just the latest in a long line of stars to criticise Trump’s proposals on a range of matters, from the economy to the arts. Last week, at the Canadian Juno Awards, singer Michael Bublé became emotional as he blasted the president’s plans to turn the country into the 51st American state, proclaiming: “We are not for sale.”
Elsewhere, back in March, over 400 music and movie stars also joined forces in a collective open letter to Trump, deploring his proposal to overhaul copyright laws in the entertainment industry in favour of AI companies.
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