Donald Trump slammed by music legend with brutal three word remark
Donald Trump's opinion on the arts has come under fire from a music legend who declares: "It can't go on like this for four more years."
Russell Mael, 76, one half of the iconic duo behind This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both Of Us, hitmakers Sparks, was asked in an interview about what it's like living in California under Trump's administration, considering the state's reputation as a haven for creativity and artistic freedom.
Russell and his brother and bandmate Ron, 79, were both born in California and have spent their entire lives there, aside from a short period living in London during the 1970s, the Express reports.
"It's absolutely terrible," he said. "There is no upside to that, once someone starts determining what people should or should not be reading or should or should not be seeing performed. It's so damaging to people especially in the arts, but in all sorts of areas too. It's incomprehensible that this is happening."
"The art is an individual spirit and you should be free to express yourself in any kind of way," he continued.
"And if artists change what they do because of Trump that is giving in to something bad. Hopefully the people are going to rally against this, in some sort of way. It can't go on like this for four more years," he reflected whilst speaking to the Sunday Independent.
Mael and his brother have released 28 albums over their five-decade-long career. They recently wrapped up the UK leg of their tour promoting their latest chart-topping album, Mad!
As part of their setlist, they performed a track from their 2020 album titled Please Don't F** My World*, which Mael noted feels more relevant now than ever.
Mael is not the first artist to criticise Trump's policies and their impact on the arts. Back in 2017, during Trump's first term as President, Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro warned that his immigration policies could shut out talented individuals from entering the country.
While accepting the Film Society of Lincoln Centre's Chaplin Award, he told the audience that the award's namesake, Charlie Chaplin, was "an immigrant who probably wouldn't pass today's 'extreme vetting'."
"I hope we're not keeping out the next Chaplin," De Niro told the crowd. Born in London, Chaplin was exiled from the US in 1952 for supposedly supporting communism during the McCarthy-era witch hunts.
De Niro also criticised the Trump administration for making what he called "mean-spirited" cuts to arts programs, accusing them of doing so "for their own divisive political purposes."
Just last week, both the Senate and the House agreed to the Trump administration's request to cut $1.1 billion in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports TV networks like NPR and PBS. The cut was approved in a 51-to-48 vote and now awaits Trump's signature.
PBS is known for airing the long-running children's educational show Sesame Street.
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