No. 39: What Happens When Art Threatens the President

Is it illegal to kill the president in an artwork? That’s what we wondered in May, when we saw first saw Alaskan assistant professor Thomas Chung’s painting that depicted actor Chris Evans holding Donald Trump’s severed head. And over the past few weeks, that question has taken on renewed significance with a series of creative works imagining Trump’s demise from a Kathy Griffin photoshoot to a performance of Julius Caesar by New York’s Public Theater. On this episode, we’re joined by New York University law professor Amy Adler to break down the limits of free speech in art—and answer one of Donald Trump Jr.’s tweets in the process.