Metropolitan Museum of Art cuts Sackler name amid opioid ire

By: Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press Posted: Last Modified:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dropping the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid growing outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/12/2021 (1756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dropping the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid growing outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis.

The New York museum and the Sackler family jointly announced on Thursday that the institution and their once-deep-pocketed benefactors would part ways, removing the Sackler name from the iconic building, including the wing that houses the Temple of Dendur. The wing is named after brothers Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, who donated $3.5 million for it in the 1970s.

“Our families have always strongly supported The Met, and we believe this to be in the best interest of the Museum and the important mission that it serves,” Sackler descendants said in a statement.

FILE - A sign with the Sackler name is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dropping the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid growing outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - A sign with the Sackler name is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dropping the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid growing outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler have all died, but descendants of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler currently are principal owners of Purdue Pharma, the company that developed OxyContin, a widely prescribed and widely abused painkiller.

In September, a bankruptcy judge conditionally approved a settlement in which the Sacklers agreed to pay $4.5 billion and give up ownership of Purdue Pharma, which would be reorganized. They would in turn receive immunity from future lawsuits. Victims’ families and a group of states criticized the deal. Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to criminal charges in late 2020.

Foundations run by members of the Sackler family have given tens of millions of dollars to museums, including the Guggenheim in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and funded work at Oxford and Yale.

In recent years, the Guggenheim, the Louvre in Paris, the Tate in London and the Jewish Museum in Berlin have all distanced themselves from the family. In 2019, the Met itself announced it would stop taking monetary gifts from Sacklers connected to Purdue Pharma.

FILE - The exterior of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York appears on March 19, 2013. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dropping the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid growing outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
FILE - The exterior of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York appears on March 19, 2013. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dropping the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid growing outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

FILE - A sign with the Sackler name is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dropping the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid growing outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Metropolitan Museum of Art cuts Sackler name amid opioid ire

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Metropolitan Museum of Art cuts Sackler name amid opioid ire

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press 2 minute read Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art is dropping the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid growing outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis.

The New York museum and the Sackler family jointly announced on Thursday that the institution and their once-deep-pocketed benefactors would part ways, removing the Sackler name from the iconic building, including the wing that houses the Temple of Dendur. The wing is named after brothers Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, who donated $3.5 million for it in the 1970s.

“Our families have always strongly supported The Met, and we believe this to be in the best interest of the Museum and the important mission that it serves,” Sackler descendants said in a statement.

Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler have all died, but descendants of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler currently are principal owners of Purdue Pharma, the company that developed OxyContin, a widely prescribed and widely abused painkiller.

Read
Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021
NICK WASS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Former Washington Capitals goalie Clay Stevenson is joining the Jets and will immediately step into the role as backup goalie.

Jets pick up netminder as relatively new 23-man roster announced

Mike McIntyre 7 minute read Preview

Jets pick up netminder as relatively new 23-man roster announced

Mike McIntyre 7 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:25 PM CDT

Let’s get the caveats out of the way: Nothing is set in stone, nor written in permanent ink, and what you see right now could change in the blink of an eye.

With that being said, allow us to introduce you to the 2026-27 Winnipeg Jets — where change is very much in the air.

The 23-man roster submitted to the NHL offices by Monday’s 4 p.m. deadline includes seven players who were not on the team at this time last year. In fact, there could be as many as 10 new faces in the opening-night lineup on Friday against Boston when you factor in three regulars didn’t start the 2025-26 campaign due to injury.

That’s a lot of turnover, which isn’t surprising for a team that finished 26th overall in the standings and was — to most fans and pundits — too old and too slow.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 9:25 PM CDT
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Premier Wab Kinew knows about political communication and uses it to his advantage.

Wab Kinew as ‘communicator in chief’

Paul G. Thomas 6 minute read Preview

Wab Kinew as ‘communicator in chief’

Paul G. Thomas 6 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Premier Wab Kinew and his party have been riding high in the polls longer than normal for a government one year or less away from its first re-election contest. One reason is his ubiquitous, dominating communications presence as NDP leader and premier.

The argument here is that Kinew has supplemented his prerogatives as premier and party leader (such as appointing cabinet ministers and approving party nominations) with the skilful use of communications to advance his policy agenda, boost his personal popularity and maintain the competitive advantage of his party over the opposition Progressive Conservatives.

Communications has always been a significant part of politics and policy making. However, in the contemporary political and media environments, communications considerations have moved from the background to the foreground of decision-making by political parties, including when they are performing in the role of government. Campaigning and governing now overlap in what has been described as a permanent election campaign.

Political parties use communications strategies for several purposes: to establish an image of the leader which makes a positive emotional connection with voters; to promote a coherent message and to keep party members on message; and to gain favourable media coverage for its policies and other actions on almost a daily basis.

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Progressive Conservative MLA Konrad Narth (La Vérendrye) was selected by the PC caucus to be the interim leader of the party Tuesday morning.

Manitoba PCs choose Narth as interim leader; ‘deeply hurt’ Khan blasts former caucus colleagues

Carol Sanders 7 minute read Preview

Manitoba PCs choose Narth as interim leader; ‘deeply hurt’ Khan blasts former caucus colleagues

Carol Sanders 7 minute read Updated: 7:31 PM CDT

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative caucus chose MLA Konrad Narth as interim party leader Tuesday to replace Obby Khan, who quit a day earlier after he said he was stabbed in the back by a small group of caucus members plotting in secret to oust him.

“I am deeply, emotionally hurt by this,” Khan told the Free Press Tuesday afternoon.

He announced late Monday afternoon that he was leaving the Tory caucus and will sit as an independent MLA. He was absent from the first question period in four months Tuesday as the legislature resumed sitting after the summer.

The former Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive lineman said he prevailed in a confidence vote Friday; 13 caucus members voted for him to remain leader, six voted against and one person was absent.

Read
Updated: 7:31 PM CDT
Obsessed stalker who shot, killed young woman at bus stop in 1993 dies behind bars at age 74

Obsessed stalker who shot, killed young woman at bus stop in 1993 dies behind bars at age 74

Erik Pindera 3 minute read Preview

Obsessed stalker who shot, killed young woman at bus stop in 1993 dies behind bars at age 74

Erik Pindera 3 minute read 5:53 PM CDT

A Winnipeg man who stalked a woman for several years before shooting her dead in the street in 1993 has died in Stony Mountain prison.

On Monday, 74-year-old Ronald Edd Bell died of apparent natural causes at the federal prison just north of Winnipeg, the Correctional Service of Canada said.

Bell had been in prison since May 30, 1994, when he was given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 18 years for killing Terry-Lyn Babb, 25, on Jan. 21, 1993.

Bell walked up behind an unsuspecting Babb, who was waiting at a bus stop at Sherbrook Street and Wolseley Avenue, and shot her in the head with a pistol in front of horrified witnesses, says the Free Press report of his sentencing hearing.

Read
5:53 PM CDT