Art Garfunkel Weighs Leaving US Over Trump Policies
Singer Art Garfunkel, 84, says he is considering leaving the United States, citing climate change, international affairs and the Trump administration's foreign policy. He joins a growing list of American celebrities who have relocated or floated moving abroad.
Art Garfunkel, the 84-year-old singer who formed one of the most successful musical partnerships in American history with Paul Simon, says he is thinking about leaving the United States, citing deep unease with the country's direction under President Donald Trump.
In an interview with The Guardian, Garfunkel said he does not recognize the nation's stance on the issues he cares about most. «I don't like America's position at all,» he said. «I'm not aboard, and I'm thinking of leaving the country, frankly.»
The New York City-born musician pointed to climate change as a central concern, describing it as an established reality rather than a matter of debate. «It's real that the planet is getting warmer, that the water's rising, that so many people are starving,» he said.
Garfunkel also criticized the Trump administration's military operation that led to the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who faces federal charges and is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. «When Donald Trump took over Venezuela, are those the new rules? Just take over a country and run it?» Garfunkel asked. «It's shocking, and you think, 'How on earth are we gonna change the presidency?' But Trump won't last forever, so we've got to hope.»
His remarks place him alongside a growing group of American entertainers who have either moved abroad or publicly entertained the idea since Trump's 2024 election victory. Comedian Rosie O'Donnell relocated to Ireland after the election. Director James Cameron has long planned a permanent move to New Zealand and has criticized Trump as his citizenship there approached. Former daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has said the election prompted her and wife Portia de Rossi to make their stay in the United Kingdom permanent.
«We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, 'He got in,'» DeGeneres recalled in comments to broadcaster Richard Bacon. «And we're like, 'We're staying here.'»
O'Donnell returned to the United States in August for a weeklong guest-hosting stint on «Jimmy Kimmel Live!» before turning her attention back to her new life in Ireland. During the Aug. 17 broadcast, she referred to Trump as «Mango Mussolini» and explained her decision to leave. «I read that Project 2025 and said, 'Got to get myself out of here, you know,' and I decided to go to Ireland, a place where people are driven to drink regardless of who's running their country,» she said.
The pattern has drawn attention from Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff, who argued that Garfunkel's case carries unusual weight. «Celebrity threats to leave the country are usually pretty easy to roll your eyes at,» Shroff said. «Most never actually do — Rosie O'Donnell aside. But Garfunkel is 84 years old and has spent more than six decades as one of the most recognizable figures in American music, so this doesn't exactly read like somebody trying to launch a political brand.»
Shroff said the more telling element is the sense of alienation behind the singer's words. «He's looking at the country he has lived in his entire life and saying, essentially, 'I don't recognize our role in the world anymore,'» he said.
Still, Shroff cautioned against reading the comments as a firm plan to emigrate. «The line about leaving America is obviously going to get the attention, but I don't think that's really what Garfunkel is saying here,» he said. «He sounds genuinely disturbed by where he thinks the country is headed, particularly by the idea that the United States can simply decide the old rules no longer apply. People can disagree with his politics, but that kind of unease is hardly unique to Art Garfunkel.»
Garfunkel's musical career spans more than six decades, beginning with the duo Simon & Garfunkel, whose hits made him a household name and a defining voice in American popular music. His comments arrive as public opinion polling continues to show a restless and discontented national mood, and as debates over climate policy, foreign intervention and the country's global role remain sharply polarized.
Representatives for Garfunkel did not immediately provide additional comment on his plans or on whether he has taken any concrete steps toward relocating.
