A protester jumped on stage and interrupted the controversial production of William Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar” — in which the assassinated dictator is costumed to resemble Republican President Donald Trump — in New York City's Central Park on Sunday night.
Jovanni Valle, 26, of Brooklyn shouted, "Liberal hate kills!" and “Goebbels would be proud!” — the latter outburst in reference to Adolf Hitler’s minister of propaganda — during the first act of the show's final night, the New York Daily News reported.
Salvatore Cipolla, 28, of Long Island, N.Y., jumped on stage about 20 minutes later and also shouted "Goebbels would be proud!" the paper said.
Police said Cipolla and Valle both were charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, the Daily News reported.
The Public Theater said both men were escorted from the venue in less than a minute "and the show continued to cheers and applause," the paper said.
In February, Cipolla was charged with criminal mischief and harassment after police said he grabbed a reporter’s press pass during a demonstration against a "right-wing speaker at New York University," the Daily News added.
The incidents follow similar ones Friday night when two protesters interrupted the scene in which the Trump-like Caesar character is stabbed to death by women and minorities, the paper said.
After the play was widely criticized by Trump supporters, corporate sponsors began to pull their support, drawing criticism from the left.
But conservative commentator Ben Shapiro slammed Friday's protesters.
“This is total, complete horse crap," he tweeted. "She invaded a public performance to obstruct it. She has no right to the stage.”
Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis said on Opening Night Monday that the play "warns about what happens when you try to preserve democracy by non-democratic means and, again, spoiler alert, it doesn’t end up too good,” the Daily News said.
A modernized "Julius Caesar" in 2012 featured the headlining character costumed to resemble Democratic President Barack Obama.
