Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in English
John Lithgow has attacked Donald Trump‘s second term as president as a “pure disaster” for the arts in the U.S.
The star was speaking after winning best actor at the Olivier Awards in London on Saturday, according to The Guardian, where he spoke out against about Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
“Our administration has done some shocking, destructive things, but the one that grieves me most is taking over the Kennedy Center,” he said. “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.”
Lithgow asserted that the current state of arts in the U.S. was a “pure disaster — really disheartening,” but added some note 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 said, adding that once the shock had gone “bad times create good art.”
Lithgow won the Olivier for his portrayal of Roald Dahl in the play “Giant,” which transfers to the Royal Court later this month. On stage at the awards ceremony, he described himself as a “curious kind of hybrid Englishman” in acknowledgement of the various British films, TV series and stage productions he’s been involved in. His connection to the U.K. is only set to deepen when he steps into the role of Dumbledore in HBO’s “Harry Potter” series, which starts shooting this summer.
