NEW YORK — Bank of America is the latest company to have problems with a Manhattan-based theater company’s portrayal of Julius Caesar as a Donald Trump look-alike in a business suit who gets knifed to death.
The bank tweeted a statement Sunday night saying it’s withdrawing its funding for the Public Theater’s production of “Julius Caesar.” It said the theater “chose to present Julius Caesar in such a way that was intended to provoke and offend.”
Earlier, Delta Air Lines said it was pulling its sponsorship, saying “it crossed the line on the standards of good taste.”
The play is part of the city’s free Shakespeare in the Park festival in Central Park. Its director, Oskar Eustis, says the production “in no way advocates violence toward anyone.”
Messages seeking comment from The Public Theater weren’t immediately returned.
Performances of the assassination scene began just days before comedian Kathy Griffin was criticized for posing for a photograph in which she gripped a bloodied rendering of Trump’s head.
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