{"id":280756,"date":"2026-02-08T15:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/280756\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T15:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:32:10","slug":"ian-mckellen-drops-400-year-old-shakespeare-play-to-address-us-immigration-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/280756\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian McKellen drops 400-year-old Shakespeare play to address US immigration debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ian-mckellen-screenshot-from-viral-video-on-x.jpg\" alt=\"Ian McKellen drops 400-year-old Shakespeare play to address US immigration debate\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/> Avenger&#8217;s Doomsday actor <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/ian-mckellen\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ian McKellen<\/a> delivered a Shakespearean monologue on immigration during a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, as debates continued in the United States over immigration policies and the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).McKellen drew parallels between present-day immigration issues and scenes from Shakespeare\u2019s play Sir Thomas More, saying the current unrest echoed events from more than 400 years ago when London saw turmoil driven by anti-immigrant sentiment.  <\/p>\n<p>Minnesota Judge Puts ICE Chief On Notice After Alex Pretti Shooting | Watch<\/p>\n<p> \u201cIn London, there\u2019s a riot; a mob is protesting against \u2018strangers,\u2019\u201d McKellen explained, describing hostility faced by early immigrants from local populations.His performance centred on a soliloquy attributed to Thomas More that highlighted the humanity of immigrants. He recited lines including:\u201cImagine that you see the wretched strangers, Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage.\u201d\u201cWould you be pleased, to find a nation of such barbarous temper, That, breaking out in hideous violence, would not afford you an abode on earth?\u201dThe studio audience applauded McKellen\u2019s delivery, and clips of the performance spread quickly on social media.The recitation came as more artists spoke publicly against current US immigration policies. <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/bad-bunny\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bad Bunny<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/lady-gaga\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lady Gaga<\/a> used their platforms to criticise ICE. During the recent Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny delivered an impassioned \u201cICE Out\u201d speech after winning Best Musica Urbano Album, while Lady Gaga condemned ICE\u2019s actions at a concert in Tokyo, declaring, \u201cLives are being destroyed right in front of us.\u201dMcKellen\u2019s performance highlighted historical injustices and focused attention on ongoing struggles around immigration, encouraging reflection and dialogue about the dignity and humanity of immigrants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Avenger&#8217;s Doomsday actor Ian McKellen delivered a Shakespearean monologue on immigration during a recent appearance on The Late&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[34882,146,6584,144309,85,814,46,2220,144310,6683],"class_list":["post-280756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bad-bunny","tag-entertainment","tag-ian-mckellen","tag-ice-criticism","tag-il","tag-immigration-policies","tag-israel","tag-lady-gaga","tag-shakespearean-monologue","tag-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}