CENSORED: NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani attempted to defund the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1999 because of THE HOLY VIRGIN MARY a painting he called “sick,” in a blatantly viewpoint-motivated attempt at censorship. Guiliani believed the piece, by artist Chris Ofili, was sacrilegious and hateful. He frequently claimed that elephant dung was “smeared” or “splattered” on the Virgin Mary. As you can see, this is false. Ofili describes his work as “a hip hop version” of the Madonna’s usually “sexually charged” appearance. The most controversial elements of “The Holy Virgin Mary” were the artist’s usage of resin-covered elephant dung and the snipped-out explicit images representing cherubs. Guiliani never actually visited the exhibit, but he turned the museum into a cultural battleground regardless. “You don’t have the right to a government subsidy to desecrate someone else’s religion,” he famously said. On one level, Giuliani’s right. Cities don’t have to fund the arts. But once a city sets up a museum as an independent public forum with its own leadership, it can’t suddenly decide to withhold this funding as a means of controlling the art it exhibits. Legendary First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams made this argument and more while defending the Brooklyn Museum of Art from Guiliani’s vindictive attempts to defund it and evict them from their building — which the museum had resided in for more than a century. Giuliani’s repeated attacks only drew more attention to the exhibit. Crowds of people, many of whom had never visited the BMA, waited outside to see the controversial work for themselves. Ultimately, the courts sided with the BMA. Judge Nina Gershon, who presided over the case, rebuked Guiliani’s accusations that the BMA was attacking Catholicism, saying “it is the Mayor and the city who by their actions have threatened the neutrality required of government in the sphere of religion.” Chris Ofili got the last laugh, as the scandal in Brooklyn only rocketed the already prominent artist to greater fame — “The Holy Virgin Mary” sold for upwards of $3 million in 2016.
When will people understand that “I am for the first amendment…except…” is not a valid position.
Senior Electrical Engineer & New-Product Developer
2mo“You don’t have the right to a government subsidy…” he [Mayor Giuliani] famously said. On one level, Giuliani’s right. Cities don’t have to fund the arts. But once a city sets up a museum as an independent public forum with its own leadership, it can’t suddenly decide to withhold this funding as a means of controlling the art it exhibits. This is the correct distillation. The government is under no obligation to fund speech. But, once it starts doing so, it can’t discriminate among speakers. It’s probably best for the government not to begin.