A woman with tickets to see the Budapest Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center was denied entry for wearing a jacket adorned with an anti–Donald Trump sign. The sign read, “NO! In the name of humanity we refuse to accept a fascist America.” The New York Times describes the woman in question, Jenny Heinz, as a longtime Met and New York Philharmonic subscriber whose jacket had been affixed with the sign since Heinz attended a protest at Trump Tower in November. Heinz says Lincoln Center gave her a refund for the ticket, but insisted that signs of any kind are not permitted on the Lincoln Center premises. The policy seems to be specific to signage, somewhat arbitrarily so, as the Times suggests that Heinz’s sentiments would have been allowed had they been expressed on a T-shirt or a pin. The incident is the latest to raise questions about the political role of the theater, as a divide endures between those who view it as an insulated versus an activist space.
