Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ The theater director who endured death threats and lost corporate sponsors after staging a Donald Trump-inspired version of Julius Caesar has a message to any artist fearful of facing similar backlash — don’t flinch. “We can’t allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed. We can’t allow ourselves to feel we’re completely isolated. We’re not,” said Oskar Eustis, artistic director of The Public Theater in
New York City. “We’re speaking for the majority of the country, and we need to draw strength from that and step out and take the risks that will really fulfill the arts’ historic function.” Eustis sparked controversy when he chose to portray Caesar as an ego-driven populist with fluffy blond hair, a gold bathtub and a leggy Slovenian wife for his free Shakespeare in the Park summer production. While Trump’s name was never mentioned, the backlash was swift after photos and video appeared online of the Trumpian Caesar dying in a bloody group stabbing in Act 3, as has happened onstage for some 400 years. Some screamed that the production condoned the assassination of Trump, even though the play clearly warns those who commit political violence even for noble reasons about the futility of their actions. Several protesters stormed the stage, and police are investigating threatening phone calls made to Eustis’ family. Delta and Bank of America pulled their sponsorships of the production. “I thought we might provoke some response but what I thought is we’d provoke response to our production, and what we got was not a response to our production but a response to a completely slanted, biased reporting on a photograph and video tapes of our production,” said Eustis.
■ Jay Z has opened up about his relationship with wife Beyonce on 4:44, his first album in four years. “Kill Jay Z,” released early Friday, quickly became a trending topic online and on social media. On the title track, he apologizes to Beyonce for some of his past decisions. “You matured faster than me, I wasn’t ready, so I apologize, I seen the innocence leave your eyes, I still mourn this death, I apologize for all the stillborns ’cause I wasn’t present your body wouldn’t accept it,” he said. The 47-year-old rapper also muses that he almost “went Eric Benet” by letting “the baddest girl in the world get away.” The line appears to be a reference to R&B singer Eric Benet, who is divorced from actress Halle Berry after he admitted cheating on her. Benet responded on Twitter on Friday, writing that his current wife is “the baddest girl in the world.” The title track appears to be a letter of apology to Beyonce. Jay Z rhymes, “I apologize often womanize.” Jay Z raps that it took Beyonce’s twins, whose birth hasn’t been confirmed, for him to believe in miracles.