NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A New York production of Shakespeare’s \u00ab\u00a0Julius Caesar\u00a0\u00bb with a Trump-like<\/b>
\nNEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A New York production of Shakespeare’s \u00ab\u00a0Julius Caesar\u00a0\u00bb with a Trump-like character who is assassinated had a boisterous new scene this weekend: an activist who stormed the stage, yelling, \u00ab\u00a0Do you want Trump to be assassinated?\u00a0\u00bb
Police said Laura Loomer was arrested Friday evening during the play presented in Central Park by the city’s Public Theater. She was arrested, charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct and released. She must appear in court at a later date to respond to the charges.
\u00ab\u00a0I’m out of jail, but I’m not apologetic, \u00a0\u00bb the 24-year-old conservative activist wrote on Twitter. \u00ab\u00a0Thanks to everyone who is supporting me & condemning political violence.\u00a0\u00bb
As she rushed to the stage, Loomer reportedly shouted, \u00ab\u00a0Stop leftist violence!\u00a0\u00bb
In the play, actor Gregg Henry resembles Donald Trump, with fluffy blondish hair, wearing a suit and a tie hanging below his belt. Sticking to Shakespeare’s script, he is stabbed multiple times by a group of senators including his close friend Brutus.
Several audience members tried to shush Loomer by booing. And the performance came to a brief stop.
She was not alone. Her supporters were in the audience, and one stood up and yelled, \u00ab\u00a0The blood of Steve Scalise is on your hands!\u00a0\u00bb \u2014 referring to the Republican congressman who was shot and critically injured earlier this week by a lone gunman on a baseball field in Virginia; four others were injured before the shooter was killed by police.
In New York, a video of the Shakespeare play incident was released almost immediately after Friday’s disruption, apparently by the protesters who posted it online for all to see.
The Public Theater reacted on Twitter, saying that while they are \u00ab\u00a0champions\u00a0\u00bb of the First Amendment, Friday’s interruption of the performance was \u00ab\u00a0driven by social media.\u00a0\u00bb
The young woman belongs to an online, right-wing group called The Rebel Media.
Delta and Bank of America have pulled their sponsorships of the Public Theater, citing the \u00ab\u00a0Julius Caesar\u00a0\u00bb production.
Sunday is the last performance of the play, which is part of the free Shakespeare in the Park series in the Delacorte Theater.
The production opened on May 23 in previews \u2014 a week before comedian Kathy Griffin’s staging of a bloody, decapitated Trump-like head and after Snoop Dogg’s video of him shooting a Trump-lookalike clown. But the production did not get much attention until more recently when the media highlighted the Trump-linked details.<\/p>\n

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