Mackey and Mamet

Chris Jones, Chicago's leading theater critic, had an interesting column in the Trib today in which he compared John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, with David Mamet, the playwright.

When John Mackey, the maverick co-chief executive of Whole Foods, first criticized President Barack Obama's proposed health care law in a 2009 Wall Street Journal article, there was an immediate blowback — boycott! boycott! — from the grocery chain's heavy coterie of politically liberal customers.

Mackey proceeded to eat some of his words, as a matter of unfortunate phrasing. I wouldn't say he actually took back his critique.

Anyway, Jones is concerned that Mamet is getting similarly burned:

In Mamet's case, there is some evidence that his political views are not playing well on Broadway: "The Anarchist," which was chock-full of interesting ideas, closed in a matter of days this past fall.

Did his fans avoid his latest play
because his views are too outré?