Protestor rushes stage at controversial 'Julius Caesar' play

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Gregg Henry, centre, portrays Trump in the role of Julius Caesar, a characterisation that has drawn criticism from right wingers.

Commotion erupted briefly Friday night in New York City's Central Park as a protester stormed an outdoor stage during the assassination scene of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", while another shouted from the audience, calling the crowd watching the provocative play "Nazis".

As she interrupted the play, fellow blogger and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec filmed the disturbance while screaming "Goebbels would be proud" at the audience. You are inciting terrorists. Posobiec also referenced this week's mass-shooting at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, which left five people injured, including the House Majority Whip. The gunman, James Hodgkinson, had a history of domestic violence.

Loomer also posted a first-person-style video of herself rushing the stage Friday night. From the audience, Posobiec yelled to the actors and the crowd "you are Goebbels", referring to the Nazi minister of propaganda.

"This is unacceptable", she said in front of an audience that called for her to "get off the stage".

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"Julius Ceasar Gets SHUTDOWN", Posobiec tweeted along with a video of the stunt, which showed Loomer shouting "Stop the normalization of political violence against the right!" as she marched on-stage.

The NYPD charged Loomer, who works for Canada-based Rebel Media, with disorderly conduct and trespassing. That's an interpretation rendered at least partially moot, however, by misguided a production that trades on anti-Trump sentiment, muddying the argument (as did versions in which Julius Caesar was played by a Barack Obama lookalike, all in a centuries-long history of the play's appropriation by ideologues of all political persuasions). As in every production of the play in the 418 years since it debuted, just as happened in 44BC, Caesar is assassinated.

The Public Theater released a statement after the show from Oskar Eustis (Artistic Director), noting "Two protestors disrupted our show tonight; we stopped the show for less than a minute and our stage manager handled it beautifully".

One of the Twitter users was quick to point out that Loomer's act falls under free speech, which was no different from the time when the cast of Hamilton had some pretty tough words for Vice President Mike Pence in November.

In a statement on twitter, the Public Theater said it expected the protest, which it said "was part of a paid strategy driven by social media". The theatre company, by contrast, continues to produce their snuff show, glamorizing and normalizing violent terrorism in America.

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