Now I know where not to bank & who not to fly with. Actions like this create a culture of fear. We must support free expression, not punish. https://t.co/GYYs4Fw8TG

— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) June 12, 2017

 

UPDATE: @BankofAmerica joins @Delta in pulling sponsorship of @PublicTheaterNY over Trump-themed #JuliusCaesar. https://t.co/Ln2LBz7GpU

— BroadwayWorld (@BroadwayWorld) June 12, 2017

 

The great bifurcation has begun. All that hogwash about the corporation being your friend, all that b.s. about getting Amex and Citi to sponsor your tour… They are not on your team and you’re corrupting yourself by making that deal. The role of an artist is not to get rich, BUT TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER!

Come on, we hated United and the stock went up. We’ve got such short memories. We pray at the altar of money, but now there’s even something richer at play, FEAR!

Everybody’s afraid. Say anything against our President and your inbox will go berserk, your Twitter feed will start scrolling, because that’s one thing the right does the left does not, which is endless gotcha, endless pushback. And if we’re waiting for the Democrats to get their act together, we might as well give up. It’s time FOR US TO LEAD!

Time to call the corporations out.

Or, as we said back in the sixties…WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

This is art folks. This is not the Koch Brothers spreading false information about climate change, this is not polluting, this is not killing, this is people using their brains to make a statement. It matters not a whit whether it’s right or wrong, that’s their prerogative. And, of course, it’s the prerogative of corporations to pull sponsorship, but are we now equating art with O’Reilly’s sexual harassment? No one was standing up defending Bill, but the New York Public Theater, which premiered “Hamilton”?? One of our most august arts institutions? This is what the division in our country has come to, that blue chips have to run scared, be worried about what they present?

And the weasels who run the corporations are clueless, so far removed from the rank and file they don’t know how to behave. And the dirty little secret is it doesn’t take many complaints for them to be scared and take action. TV networks get A COUPLE of complaints and they go into a tizzy, cancel shows, kick people off. That’s the power of speaking up. And you need to speak up about this, because they’re coming for you next, that’s right!

As for all you right wing wankers complaining about free speech on campus… The inability of extremists like Coulter, Milo and Murray to speak, what have you got to say about this? Oh, you’re gonna say no one’s stopping them from mounting the play, but the truth is this is gonna put a huge dent in the Public Theater’s ability to continue.

They call this a chilling event.

Our whole nation is chilled. Because Agent Orange is coming after you, and if it’s not him it’s his minions, the rich and disadvantaged who would rather have you starve than pay another penny in taxes, give another cent to welfare.

Taxes? They pay for roads and infrastructure.

Welfare? Give people a leg up and they don’t rob you and they become model citizens benefiting society. When did it all become about mine for me?

But the point is artists and corporations were never on the same side. An artist may be anxious about a statement, but that does not mean they pull back, they put it out there. And oftentimes what you’re worried about most resonates, happens to me all the time, I think I’m gonna be excoriated and my inbox fills up with hosannas. But that’s assuming you’re playing at all, that you’re not too scared to take a risk.

But everybody’s scared. Everybody’s playing it safe. Especially these corporations dominating the world, run by overpaid nitwits convinced they know better.

They don’t.

I know better than them because I’m hearing from thousands of people all the time. Believe me, my inbox would horrify and elate you all at the same time.

That’s what happens when you’re on the front lines.

Reporters are faceless, they’ve got no idea what’s going on.

And neither do the CEOs.

But we’ve got boots on the ground. Which is why Twitter and other online resources are so important. That’s where I found out about this aberration. From Beau Willimon, the creator of “House of Cards,” whom I respect.

Who do you respect?

Follow them, encourage them, push them to take a risk. And support them when they hang it out there. Because we’re about to lose freedom of speech not through law or protest but through the chilling effect of the Administration’s blowback.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

And if you think I’m kidding, you’re a nincompoop without a backbone who never took a stand.

That’s the question of 2017…WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?