April 07, 2025
John Lithgow, who will appear in the new Harry Potter series, is not happy with the current state of the arts in the U.S.
He made his objections clear after winning the Olivier Award for his role as Roald Dahl in the play Giant.
During his acceptance speech, he called out the second term of president Donald Trump, “Our administration has done some shocking, destructive things, but the one that grieves me most is taking over the Kennedy Center."
He continued, “Deborah Rutter was fired from her position as president – even though she’d already resigned and had [several] months to go. She’s a very good friend of mine."
"We co-chaired a commission on the arts and spent three years finding out the state of the arts in America [was] in crisis. Well, it’s really in crisis now. First there was coronavirus, now there’s this," the actor noted.
John also said the situation of the arts in the U.S. right now is a “pure disaster—really disheartening."
But he also included some tone of optimism. “It gives us all something to fight for and I think the arts are animated by that. Right now, everybody is in shock,” he concluded, adding, “bad times create good art.”