The Simon and Garfunkel legend has revealed his growing disillusionment with the United States as he criticises Donald Trump, climate policy and America’s role overseas.
Art Garfunkel has said he is considering leaving the United States because he is so troubled by the direction of the country under President Donald Trump.
The 84-year-old singer – one half of Simon and Garfunkel, whose catalogue includes Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Sound of Silence and Mrs Robinson – revealed his concerns in an interview with the Guardian.
Art, who grew up in New York City, criticised the Trump administration’s approach to international affairs and climate change and said he was contemplating a future outside America.
He said: “I don’t like America’s position at all. I’m not aboard, and I’m thinking of leaving the country, frankly.”
The singer also raised concerns about the climate crisis and global poverty.
He added: “It’s real that the planet is getting warmer, that the water’s rising, that so many people are starving.”
Art also criticised Donald Trump, 80, over the US military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
He said: “When Donald Trump took over Venezuela, are those the new rules? Just take over a country and run it?”
Art added: “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 comments come as a number of prominent American entertainers have either moved overseas or spoken about doing so following Donald’s return to the White House.
Rosie O’Donnell relocated to Ireland following Donald’s 2024 election victory and returned temporarily to the US last month to guest-host Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
During the programme, Rosie referred to Donald as “Mango Mussolini” and discussed her decision to leave America.
She said: “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.”
Ellen DeGeneres has also said Trump’s election influenced her decision to remain permanently in Britain with her wife Portia de Rossi, 53, after the couple had travelled to the UK before the result.
Ellen said of learning the result: “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’.”
She added: “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here’.”
Film-maker James Cameron, who directed Titanic, The Terminator and the Avatar films, has meanwhile pursued a long-planned move to New Zealand and has publicly criticised Donald.
Art’s intervention comes during a busy period for the singer, who is continuing to perform.
His current schedule includes American dates this month before a European run in October, with UK concerts planned in Watford, Manchester, Wolverhampton and London.
He is due to perform at the Royal Albert Hall on 19 October before concerts in Paris and Hamburg.
His career remains inseparable from his partnership with Paul Simon.
The pair became one of the defining musical acts of the 1960s with songs including The Boxer, America, Cecilia and I Am a Rock, culminating in the hugely successful Bridge Over Troubled Water album.
After splitting, they periodically reunited, most famously for their 1981 Concert in Central Park in New York, which attracted an estimated audience of about 500,000.
Their last tour together was in 2010 before another lengthy estrangement.
Art revealed in 2025 he and Paul had reconciled during an emotional dinner, during which they hugged and Art was reduced to tears.
Discussing their relationship in his latest Guardian interview, however, Art said he had not subsequently seen Paul.
He said: “That was about a year ago and I haven’t seen him in the last year.”
Art Garfunkel declares he’s thinking of leaving America due to Donald Trump’s presidency
