Art Garfunkel says he is weighing a move abroad over his disillusionment with the Trump administration.
The 84-year-old singer, born and raised in New York City, said in an interview published Sept. 4 that he no longer recognizes the country he has called home his entire life. Garfunkel, who spent more than six decades as one of American music’s most recognizable voices, voiced deep unease about climate change, global hunger, and what he sees as a dangerous shift in how the United States projects its power overseas.
“I don’t like America’s position at all,” Garfunkel told the British publication. “I’m not aboard, and I’m thinking of leaving the country, frankly.”
The “Bridge Over Troubled Water” singer singled out for criticism a military operation ordered by President Donald Trump that resulted in the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who now faces federal charges and is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. Garfunkel framed the action as a troubling break from established international norms.
“When Donald Trump took over Venezuela, are those the new rules? Just take over a country and run it?” Garfunkel said. “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.”
Garfunkel’s remarks place him among a cluster of prominent American entertainers who have either relocated or spoken openly about doing so since Trump’s return to the White House. Comedian Rosie O’Donnell, 64, moved to Ireland following Trump’s 2024 election victory and later returned briefly in August to guest-host “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” On the Aug. 17 broadcast, O’Donnell 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 on the show.
Director James Cameron has also long planned a permanent move to New Zealand and has criticized Trump as his New Zealand citizenship approached. Former daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres told broadcaster Richard Bacon in 2025, that Trump’s 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 said. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.'”
Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff said that celebrity threats to leave the country typically warrant skepticism, though he suggested Garfunkel’s case carries different 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 continued by parsing what he sees as the underlying message beneath Garfunkel’s relocation talk. “What’s interesting is the level of alienation he’s expressing,” he added. “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.'”
The strategist further argued that Garfunkel’s comments function more as political statement than concrete plan. “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,” Shroff 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, who with Paul Simon formed one of the best-selling musical duos in history, has not publicly clarified any specific destination or timeline for a potential move.
Fox News Digital reached out to Garfunkel for additional comment.