New York’s Met museum to remove Sackler family name from exhibits over opioid links

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
AFP via Getty Images
Daniel Keane10 December 2021

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will drop the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces amid outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis.

The museum and the Sackler family jointly announced on Thursday that the institution and their benefactor would part ways, removing the Sackler name from the iconic building.

It includes the removal of the Sackler name from the famous wing that houses the Temple of Dendur, which is named after brothers Arthur Mortimer and Raymond Sackler. The brothers donated £2.6m towards the wing 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.

Mortimer and Raymond Sackler are principal owners of Purdue Pharma, the firm that developed OxyContin, a widely abused painkiller.

In September, a bankruptcy judge conditionally approved a settlement in which the Sacklers agreed to pay £3.4 billion and give up ownership of Purdue Pharma, which would be reorganised. They would in turn receive immunity from future lawsuits.

More than 500,000 people have died from opioid overdoses since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Families who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction criticised the Sackler’s bankruptcy deal, saying there was no apology from members of the Sackler family or an opportunity to confront them face-to-face.

Foundations run by members of the Sackler family have donated tens of millions of dollars to museums, including the Guggenheim in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

However, museums across Europe – including the Louvre in Paris and the Jewish Museum in Berlin - have distanced themselves from the family in recent years.

In 2019, the Met gallery said it would stop taking donations connected to Purdue Pharma.

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