The list of American cultural figures declaring their intention to leave the country has grown long enough to invite skepticism. Art Garfunkel's name on it is harder to dismiss. The New York City-born musician, now 84, told The Guardian he is "thinking of leaving the country, frankly," joining Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, and director James Cameron in a cohort of public figures who have either relocated or stated plans to do so.
Garfunkel's stated concerns cover climate change, rising sea levels, and what he characterized as a collapse in the norms governing U.S. foreign policy. "It's real that the planet is getting warmer, that the water's rising, that so many people are starving," he told The Guardian, which published the piece on September 4. His specific objection involves the military operation that resulted in the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, now held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, and facing federal charges. "When Donald Trump took over Venezuela, are those the new rules? Just take over a country and run it?" Garfunkel said.
Where this sits among celebrity departures
O'Donnell made the move concrete after Trump's 2024 election, relocating to Ireland. She returned in August for a weeklong guest-hosting stint on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" before resuming her Irish residency. DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi arrived in the United Kingdom the day before the election and, by DeGeneres's account to broadcaster Richard Bacon, decided to stay permanently. Cameron has long planned a permanent move to New Zealand, where his citizenship was approaching.
Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff told Fox News Digital that Garfunkel's age and career span make these remarks harder to read as political branding. "He sounds genuinely disturbed by where he thinks the country is headed," Shroff said, pointing specifically to Garfunkel's alarm at the idea that Washington can decide the old rules no longer apply. Shroff also told Fox News Digital he reads the relocation talk as more political statement than firm commitment. "People can disagree with his politics, but that kind of unease is hardly unique to Art Garfunkel," he added. Garfunkel's own framing was spare: "Trump won't last forever, so we've got to hope."