Theater cancels Kristy Swanson and Dean Cain's pro-Trump performance over 'threats of violence': 'We are appalled'
Just days after actress Kristy Swanson said she and co-star Dean Cain had received a “death threat” for planning to take part in a live reading critical of the former FBI agents investigating Donald Trump, the Washington, D.C. theater which was slated to host the June 13 production has backed out.
According to an article from right-wing media outlet BizPac Review shared by Swanson and Cain on their respective social media pages, the Mead Theater notified the producers of FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers that they would no longer participate in the production due to concerns over “threats of violence.”
The reading, which will be filmed and later made available for streaming online, exposes the texts shared between former Trump-Russia investigators Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Strzok and Page had an extramarital affair and were vocal about their criticism of Trump. A fundraising site for the production calls the texts “hate-filled, sleazy, juvenile [and] corrupt” and accuses the pair of trying to “destroy President Trump’s campaign and his presidency by starting the ‘Russia Collusion’ investigation.”
Last week, Swanson called out a Twitter user who’d mentioned locking the theater doors and setting it on fire. It’s unclear if the Mead Theater received other threats which prompted them to pull the plug on the play. A video statement from producers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney claims that the theater told them that “media reports have made us aware of undisclosed details about the event.”
“We are appalled,” they said in another statement. “The Mead Theater withdrew the event, citing ‘threats of violence.’ In actuality, this is an attempt to squash the content of FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers and what it reveals about the anti-Trump forces in the government. They knew we are filming the play and planning to release it online. That’s why they banned us. They just don’t want the truth out there.”
The statement continued: “In fact, the theatrical establishment is really afraid of the way we are using Verbatim Theater, which utilizes only the actual words and texts from Strzok and Page. ... The intolerant left can’t challenge the actual, verbatim text.”
The decision by the Mead Theater to cancel our booking for the #FBILovebirds play is cowardly. Please help us get the word out and continue to support us at https://t.co/mo6y8RFrTK. We are not going to give in to their attempt to sabotage us. pic.twitter.com/CdRGPzIcJ4
— Phelim (@PhelimMcAleer) May 29, 2019
McAleer added that the show will go on, albeit at a different location.
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