Is it Time to Boycott Nederlander Theatres Due to Their Political Donations to Donald Trump?
Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
With the country in turmoil right now, many are starting to look closer at what wealthy forces aided in electing Donald Trump with hefty donations. And within the Broadway community, some particular donations in 2016 are now being newly scrutinized. Those would be the donations made by the heads of the Nederlander Organization, James M. Nederlander, and his son, James L. Nederlander, one of the largest theatre ownership groups in the country.
According to the Federal Election Commission website, on June 30th and July 7th of 2016, the Nederlanders donated $160,000 to the Donald Trump campaign, Donald Trump PACS and the Republican National Committee. More than any other political candidate they had given to in the past three presidential elections.
On June 30th, James L. Nederlander, president of the Nederlander Organization, donated $60,000. Two separate donations of $2,700 were made to the campaign, “Donald Trump for President Inc.”, $30,000 went to a Trump PAC titled “Trump Victory” and $24,600 when to the Republican National Committee(RNC).
Then again on July 7th, James M. Nederlander, the former Chairman of the Nederlander Organization(or someone on his behalf), donated $100,000 to Republican and Donald Trump entities. This time $50,000 went to “Trump Victory”, $44,600 in two separate payments to the RNC, and two more payments to “Donald Trump for President Inc.” of $2,700. Mr. Nederlander, who is also the namesake for the “Jimmy Awards”, died weeks later on the 26th.
This is not the first time the Nederlanders donated to political candidates but their spending habits may raise some eyebrows. According to records, both men regularly contributed to campaigns and PACS for both Republicans and Democrats. However, they saved their larger donations for Republican candidates and the RNC.
For instance between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton in 2016, their donations were $160,000 for Trump and $1,500 for Clinton.
In 2012, they donated $122,900 to Mitt Romney entities and zero to Barrack Obama ones. The same goes for 2008 when they donated $70,800 to McCain and Palin's campaign and zero to Barrack Obama.
Is it fair to say that the Nederlander men tend to give heavily to whoever the Republican candidate is? The last three elections would prove that. But the donations to Trump stand out because of the type of candidate he appeared to be when the donations were made.
Keep in mind, by June and July of 2016, Trump had already made outlandish, racist, sexist, and problematic comments on the campaign trail. The fact that none of that type of behavior caused the Nederlanders to rethink their donation strategy, is alarming.
But do understand that, you have to know about the Nederlanders ties to Trump before he entered presidential politics. While there isn’t a ton of documented stories of the close ties between the two, there is enough to suggest a positive working relationship.
It likely began in the early 1970’s when Trump was the producer of a play titled, “Paris is Out”. The play ran and flopped at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, which was owned by the Nederlanders.
In 1999, New York Magazine mentioned in a profile about the Nederlanders an encounter with Trump at a David Blaine event where James M. remarked about the future president, “He’s not a bad guy, worst thing you can say about him is he’s ambitious. What’s wrong with that?…They said that about me.”
In 2012, Donald Trump attended the premiere of Mike Tyson’s one-man show Undisputed Truth of which James L. was producing. The two were photographed together.
Donald Trump and James L. Nederlander in 2012 (Getty Images)
Last year, anger erupted when Donald Trump made a visit to Cincinnati, OH to hold a rally at the U.S. Bank Arena. The arena is co-owned by Nederlander Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Nederlander Organization. The same arena was a stop on Trump’s “Thank You Tour” after he was elected in 2016.
So it’s fair to say that there is enough to prove a relationship between the Nederlanders and Donald Trump. What’s worrisome is that there isn’t more.
Which is why these contributions are coming back up now. On Twitter, the account @ndrwrnnlls, posted the question of whether it’s time to boycott Broadway over this.
It’s a fair question to ask.
While the Nederlander Organization has a history of housing shows filled with performers of color such as On Your Feet, The Lion King, and Hamilton (not to mention countless women and members of the LGBTQIA community), their organization’s leadership is contributing to candidates that actively marginalize them and seek to limit their rights. They used profits made off the work and talent of these people to fund a candidate that promised to make their lives harder if elected.
To say that Donald Trump has followed through on that campaign promise, would be a grave understatement.
I spoke with one actor who was in the Nederlander-housed show before COVID-19 shutdown about this.
“I feel like I was a slave and the theatre was the cotton field”, he said.
Now could Mr. Nederlander have had a change of heart over Trump over the past three years? Maybe. After all, he did donate $2,800 to Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential campaign and another $5,200 to Pete Buttigieg’s “Win the Era” PAC. He also hasn’t given a cent to Trump, yet.
But that shouldn’t absolve him from the fact that the Nederlanders very much endorsed the current president with their checkbooks, even after they knew what kind of president he would be.
It will be interesting to see how the Broadway community and beyond reacts to this. Many within the community have posted their outrage over the Trump administration on social media, but how will they respond knowing one of their power players was involved in his election victory? A power player with a far reach that would impact potential career prospects. Keep an eye on this.
But in 2020, especially right this moment, calling into question the donations one of the most powerful theatre owners in the world is absolutely fair. At the very least, I’d like to think the Nederlander Organization would donate to causes supporting #blacklivesmatter or release a statement of support, but they haven’t done that either.