John Malkovich cancels performance in Tel Aviv - DETAILS
World-renowned American theater, film, and television actor John Malkovich has canceled the performance of the play The Music Critic scheduled for next year in Israel because of an unauthorized press release in which certain statements were falsely attributed to the actor.
1news.az reports this citing The Hollywood Reporter.
It is reported that on April 13 J. Malkovich was to return to Tel Aviv with the satirical musical-theatrical performance The Music Critic — the author and creator of the production is the Russian-German violinist and composer of Jewish origin Aleksey Igudesman.
In a press release distributed on September 5, J. Malkovich was credited with saying that he is "very happy to return to Israel" and is looking forward to meeting the "warm Israeli audience," toward which he feels a "strong closeness and solidarity."
However, Malkovich stated that he learned of this report only after reading The Hollywood Reporter's publication, which originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post. According to the actor, he never gave permission for this statement to be distributed in the press release sent to The Jerusalem Post, and that is precisely why he decided to cancel his performance.
"The PR company hired by the Israeli promoter prepared a quote for the article, attributing it to me, although I never made the statements cited in it and was not consulted before their publication," John Malkovich said in a comment to The Hollywood Reporter.
"I did not utter these phrases, they were most definitely not approved by me and do not reflect my feelings. The fact that they were published as my direct quotes is unacceptable and inadmissible. For this reason, I decided that I cannot take part in the performance in Tel Aviv," the actor emphasized.
The actor also explained the following: "My performing in any country, even in my own, does not mean an endorsement of that country's policies, its actions, or its elected or unelected leaders. My performances likewise do not mean support for or so-called 'solidarity' with any particular political cause, the killing of innocent people, terrorist acts, or any other manifestations of barbarity."
It is noted that the Israeli PR company handling the media support for the performance issued a clarification and apologized for the "mistaken" attribution of these statements to John Malkovich. "Mr. Malkovich did not make, provide, authorize, or approve this statement, nor was it coordinated with his representatives," said the statement of the company, which apologized to the actor and expressed regret over the situation that occurred.
The Jerusalem Post also made changes to its publication, adding an editorial note: "The statement attributed to Malkovich was removed from the article after confirmation that it does not in fact belong to him. Alon Yurik, the Israeli producer of the performance, explained that the original press release contained an incorrect quote as a result of a misunderstanding, and apologized for the error made."
It is known that John Malkovich previously visited Israel in 2008 as a guest of honor of the Jerusalem Film Festival. In 2013, he came to the country again to perform the play The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer at the International Chamber Music Festival in Eilat and at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
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