President Donald Trump certainly has a lot of people fantasizing about how he really ought to be dead. First, Kathy Griffin displayed what looked like the severed head of the president during a TMZ photo shoot, simulating an ISIS decapitation video. Then the annual Shakespeare in the Park production of “Julius Caesar” depicted the Roman soldier-statesman as being an orange-haired man in a modern business suit, grabbing at women’s private parts before being cut down in the Theater of Pompey by people who resembled his aides and friends. But, unlike other examples of assassination porn, Hot Air notes that these cases are getting pushback.
Delta Airlines and Bank of America pull sponsorship
The moment that the video of Julius Trump getting knifed to death hit YouTube, corporate sponsors like Delta Airlines and Bank Of America started bailing. The depiction of a sitting president of the United States being murdered on stage was too much for these corporate entities. They did not want their brands associated with that sort of thing. So, even before the public outcry started and calls for boycotts arose, the two corporations scrambled to distance themselves.
Some support for the play and its depiction of Trump’s death
Some people on social media have rallied to the support of the play’s producers’ choice of casting, costuming, and setting.
They point out, correctly, that Shakespeare regarded Julius Caesar as a heroic figure and a great man. The assassins do not end well, either being torn to pieces by the Roman mob after Marc Antony’s famous speech or being obliged to commit suicide after losing the Battle of Philippi. The Roman Republic, which they thought they were preserving by killing Caesar, soon became an empire ruled over by Augustus Caesar, the dictator’s great nephew.
Of course, that excuse making is all eyewash. No New York theater company is going to put on a production whose message is that one should not hate President Trump enough to want to kill him. The Public Theater Company staged “Julius Caesar” for the shock value (or titillation depending on one's point of view) of Donald Trump falling before the daggers for all to see.
The desired effect was for New York theatergoers to laugh and cheer at the sight of that man in the White House being made one with the ages.
But it looks like the haters have gone too far. They could depict George W. Bush being taken out by a long range rifle in a movie. They could paint a picture of Sarah Palin being nailed screaming to a cross. But it looks like assassination porn has passed its expiration date and it is a good thing too.
