“We represent a cross-section of people from the arts community that believe that the BP logo represents a stain on Tates international reputation,” reads a letter, signed by over 150 prominent figures, that appeared today in the Letters section of the Guardian newspaper. The primary signatory was that veteran of exposing the opaque and politically-loaded sources of funding for arts institutions, Hans Haacke — whose 1970 MoMA Poll addressed New York governor and Museum of Modern Art board member Nelson Rockefellers continuing support of Nixons Indochina policy.

Haacke, along with the other signatories — including artists, composers, playwrights, poets, critics, professors, comedians, cartoonists, performers, producers, illustrators, architects, cinematographers, designers, and publishers — wrote in protest of the summer gala, which Tate Britain is slated to host tonight in honor of British Petroleums 20-year sponsorship of the institution. This party, according to the letter, will “enable big oil companies to mask the environmentally destructive nature of their activities with the social legitimacy that is associated with such high-profile cultural institutions.”

The roster of irate arts-world protesters (like composer Matthew Herbert, playwright Caryl Churchill, critic Rebecca Solnit, writer Lucy R. Lippard, and artist Mira Schor) did not leave it at that. To drive their point home, they drew an unnerving comparison between BP’s funding of the Tate and other institutions — including the Royal Opera, the National Portrait Gallery, and the British Museum, to which BP contributes approximately $1.5 million per year — to tobacco companies’ unethical backing of other public institutions until just over a decade ago.