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

A sign with the Sackler name is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2019. Credit: AP

New York’s iconic Metropolitan Museum of Art is going to remove the Sackler family name from its exhibit halls.

The New York museum and the Sackler family jointly announced the parting of ways, which will see the Sackler name removed from the famed building, including the wing that houses the Temple of Dendur.

This wing is named after brothers Arthur, Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, who donated $3.5 million for it in the 1970s.

A sign with some names of the Sackler family is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019. Credit: AP

They have all died, but descendants of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler are currently principal owners of Purdue Pharma, the company that developed OxyContin, a widely prescribed painkiller blamed for fuelling the opioid crisis.

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“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.

A total of seven exhibition spaces at the Met- which overlooks Central Park and houses some of the world's most precious art works- bear the Sackler name.

The Met is dropping the Sackler name from exhibition spaces amid outrage over the role the family may have played in the opioid crisis. Credit: AP

In September, a bankruptcy judge conditionally approved a settlement in which the Sacklers agreed to pay $4.5 billion and give up ownership of Purdue Pharma.

They would in turn receive immunity from future lawsuits.

Families who lost children and other loved ones in the US opioid crisis- which has claimed the lives of an estimated 500,000 Americans over the past two decades- criticised the deal.

This is because there was no apology from members of the Sackler family and there was no chance to confront them face-to-face about the lives lost to opioids, according to reports.

In 2018, Lynn Wencus, of Massachusetts, holds a sign with a picture of her son Jeff and wears a sign of others' loved ones lost to opioids. Credit: AP

In the past, foundations run by members of the Sackler family have given tens of millions of dollars to museums, including the Guggenheim in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In recent years, however, the Guggenheim, the Louvre in Paris, the Tate in London and the Jewish Museum in Berlin have all distanced themselves from the family.

In 2019, the Met announced it would stop taking monetary gifts from Sacklers connected to Purdue Pharma.

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