A New York City arts organization is under fire for staging a "Shakespeare in the Park" version of Julius Caesar in which the titular character is portrayed by a Donald Trump look-alike and assassinated.
Public Theater's Julius Caesar is a businessman known for his "petulant personality, fancy suits, and blondish hair with orange overtones," according to the Washington Post. And his wife, Calpurnia, even has a Slavic accent similar to that of First Lady Melania Trump.
The play officially opens on Monday, although it has shown previews since May 23, according to the New York Times.
Delta Air Lines pulled its financial support of the theater on Sunday in response to criticism, and Bank of America withdrew its sponsorship of the play, although it will continue to fund Public Theater.
"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 in a statement Sunday night. "Their artistic and creative direction crossed the line on the standards of good taste. We have notified them of our decision to end our sponsorship as the official airline of the Public Theater effective immediately."
Laura Sheaffer, who attended a performance of the play earlier this month, described the similarity of the Caesar character to Trump in an interview with Mediaite.
"The actor playing Caesar was dressed in a business suit, with a royal blue tie, hanging a couple inches below the belt line, with reddish-blonde hair—just like Trump," Sheaffer said. "I always go to Shakespeare in the park, but I wasn't expecting to see this."
Gregg Henry, the actor playing Caesar, said the existence of democracy is at stake. He told Backstage the director's "vision of the show is very much to show us a warning that Shakespeare had as well that when a tyrant comes to power and the way you fight that tyrant, it's very important how you then try to deal with the problem because if you don't deal with the problem in a proper way, you can end up losing democracy for like, 2000 years."
Director Oskar Eustis said the production does not advocate violence toward anyone.