U.S. President Donald Trump is not popular. He took office on a platform of hate, and that’s not exactly poised to earn him many supporters beyond those he already has. Opposition to him and his agenda from Hollywood touches on a real, widely held sentiment.
At the recently held Tony Awards, actor Robert De Niro introduced rock icon Bruce Springsteen with comments that included “Fuck Trump,” and in the aftermath of that, he’s had criticism lobbed at him from the president himself — and, now, from one of his supporters who was at a Broadway show of his recently.
On Saturday night, as the actors in the Robert De Niro-directed A Bronx Tale: The Musical took a final bow, an unnamed Trump supporter stood up and displayed a “Keep America Great” Trump 2020 banner to the audience. It’s not as though there was some kind of outpouring of support; he was removed from the theater and that was that.
Audience member Joe Del Vicario commented alongside a photo he shared of the man’s flag:
‘The times we live in. At the end of A Bronx Tale, a man turned around and faced the audience to show us how big of a pair he has. He was escorted shortly after. It’s sad that people can’t enjoy a beautiful show and embrace its unifying message without politicizing it.’
Ironically, Del Vicario identified himself on Twitter as a “centrist” who is a “proud supporter” of, apparently, President Trump — but he still is among those who don’t care for the unnamed Trump supporter’s Saturday night Broadway protest.
In making his apparent opposition to Robert De Niro known Saturday night, the Trump supporter with the banner was taking after the man he’s apparently set on voting for come 2020.
In Twitter posts put up shortly after his supposedly history altering summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump resorted to responding to De Niro’s Tonys snub by calling him “Punchy” because he “has received [too] many shots to the head by real boxers in movies.”
The tweets fit into a broad pattern of the president refusing to let those who go after him off the hook, choosing instead to spend his time as the leader of the United States attacking and belittling those who dare exercise their right to free speech.
At this point, he’s gone after celebrities ranging from Alec Baldwin to Meryl Streep, both of whom are among those in Hollywood to have made their opposition to President Trump known.
De Niro is in the same boat as at least Baldwin, with both men having appeared on Saturday Night Live in anti-Trump impersonations at this point. De Niro has portrayed Special Counsel Robert Mueller, while Baldwin has infamously portrayed Trump himself.
As long as Trump continues down the current path he’s on — and there’s certainly no indication he’s planning on making a change — he and his supporters on Broadway with banners can expect only more opposition. Just this month protests are being planned around the country against the Trump administration policy of family separations at the U.S./Mexico border.
Featured Image via JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images
