Tommy Tainant
Diamond Member
'This is blood money': Tate shuns Sacklers – and others urged to follow
On Thursday, the Tate group announced it would not take any more donations from the Sacklers, the family whose most prominent billionaire members own the company that makes OxyContin, a prescription painkiller implicated in America’s opioids crisis.
The company, Purdue Pharma, and eight leading Sackler family members are being investigated and sued, accused of knowingly misleading the public about the dangers of OxyContin and profiting from sales and marketing strategies that deceived doctors and rewarded them for over-prescribing the drug.
Those cases are drawing increasing attention, as are protests by activists who want arts and academic institutions in the US, UK and elsewhere to eschew Sackler money.
Well done the Tate I think.
But there is a long relationship between art and dirty money and artists need to eat. Where is the line drawn ?
On Thursday, the Tate group announced it would not take any more donations from the Sacklers, the family whose most prominent billionaire members own the company that makes OxyContin, a prescription painkiller implicated in America’s opioids crisis.
The company, Purdue Pharma, and eight leading Sackler family members are being investigated and sued, accused of knowingly misleading the public about the dangers of OxyContin and profiting from sales and marketing strategies that deceived doctors and rewarded them for over-prescribing the drug.
Those cases are drawing increasing attention, as are protests by activists who want arts and academic institutions in the US, UK and elsewhere to eschew Sackler money.
Well done the Tate I think.
But there is a long relationship between art and dirty money and artists need to eat. Where is the line drawn ?
