The newly minted president of the Kennedy Center, Richard Grenell, took the Broadway star behind the creation of “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda, to task over a “publicity stunt” he said discriminates against Republican voters and will likely “backfire.”
“The American people need to know that @Lin_Manuel is intolerant of people who don’t agree with him politically. It’s clear he and (‘Hamilton’ producer Jeffrey Seller) don’t want Republicans going to their shows. Americans see you, Lin,” Grenell posted to X Wednesday.
Seller and Miranda spoke to the New York Times in a piece published Wednesday afternoon detailing that they canceled a planned production of “Hamilton,” a popular rap musical on the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, slated for 2026 due to the Trump administration’s policies.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts serves as the national cultural center of the U.S. and is now led by President Donald Trump as its chairman, Grenell and its board of trustees.
KENNEDY CENTER SHAKE-UP WILL USHER IN ‘GOLDEN AGE OF THE ARTS’ UNDER TRUMP, RIC GRENELL PREVIEWS
“This latest action by Trump means it’s not the Kennedy Center as we knew it,” Miranda and Seller told the New York Times in a joint statement. “The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center. We’re just not going to be part of it.”
Seller claimed that Trump “took away our national arts center for all of us.”
“It became untenable for us to participate in an organization that had become so deeply politicized,” the musical’s producer said. “The Kennedy Center is for all of us, and it pains me deeply that they took it over and changed that. They said it’s not for all of us. It’s just for Donald Trump and his crowd. So we made a decision we can’t do it.”
ACTRESS ISSA RAE CANCELS SOLD-OUT KENNEDY CENTER SHOW AFTER TRUMP NAMED CHAIRMAN OF VENUE
Grennel shot back at the Broadway chiefs, saying they need to “be clear on the facts.”
“Seller and @Lin_Manuel first went to the New York Times before they came to the Kennedy Center with their announcement that they can’t be in the same room with Republicans,” he wrote on X. “This is a publicity stunt that will backfire.”
“The Arts are for everyone – not just for the people who Lin likes and agrees with,” he continued.
“Americans see you, Lin.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Miranda’s press team for additional comment, but did not immediately receive replies. The press office representing “Hamilton” provided Fox Digital with Seller’s statement canceling the production at the Kennedy Center when approached for additional comment.
Trump fired a handful of the Kennedy Center’s previous board members in February, arguing that they did “not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.” He indicated that the motivation behind firing the former board members was due to the Kennedy Center’s drag show performances under the Biden administration that targeted children.
The new Kennedy Center board elected Trump as chairman Feb. 12. Trump appointed Grenell – who became the U.S.’s first openly gay Cabinet member under the first Trump administration when he served as acting director of national intelligence – as interim executive director amid the board shakeup.
Grenell – as well as Trump – has since vowed that he and the Kennedy Center team will usher in the “Golden Age of the Arts.”
He previewed during his remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February that the Kennedy Center will now focus on performances “the public want to see,” such as Christmas-focused productions in December.
“We have to do the big productions that the masses and the public want to see, we want to have really good programming,” Grenell said in February at CPAC. “So the first thing that we’re doing… you’ve got to be at the Kennedy Center in December, because we are doing a big, huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas. How crazy is it to think that we’re going to celebrate Christ at Christmas with a big traditional production to celebrate what we are all celebrating in the world during Christmastime, which is the birth of Christ.”
A BIDEN-ERA LEGAL WIN PAVED THE WAY FOR TRUMP’S KENNEDY CENTER BOARD FIRINGS
Miranda has not shied away from slamming the Trump administration in previous years, including saying on X in 2017 that Trump would be “going straight to hell” amid the administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico that year.
Following the Trump-Pence election win in 2016, the cast of “Hamilton” also came under fire when it performed before then-Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Trump demanded the “Hamilton” cast apologize after calling on Pence to “uphold our American values” from the stage.
“We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,” a cast member said in comments aimed at Pence. “We truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us. All of us.”
Seller told the New York Times in 2016 that he and Miranda and other cast members wrote the curtain call statement aimed at Pence after they struggled with how to “cope” with Trump’s first White House win.
“We had to ask ourselves, how do we cope with this?” Seller said. “Our cast could barely go on stage the day after the election. The election was painful and crushing to all of us here. We all struggled with what was the appropriate and respectful and proper response. We are honored that Mr. Pence attended the show, and we had to use this opportunity to express our feelings.”
In 2025, conservatives are celebrating Grenell’s response to the “Hamilton” leaders.
A handful of left-leaning performers and celebrities have pulled out of shows at the Kennedy Center since Trump’s re-election and serving as the center’s board chair.
The center came under scrutiny in February as the media and liberal critics spotlighted that a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus and National Symphony Orchestra slated for May as part of Washington, D.C.’s gay pride celebrations was canceled, with critics attempting to tie the cancellation to the Trump administration. The chorus and orchestra were scheduled to perform a show titled “A Peacock Among Pigeons,” which is based on an LGBT-themed children’s book.
TRUMP FIRES KENNEDY CENTER BOARD MEMBERS CITING DRAG SHOWS, APPOINTS HIMSELF CHAIRMAN
The performance, however, was put on the chopping block weeks before the center’s leadership change and was canceled due to lack of ticket sales, Fox News Digital learned.
Grenell told Fox Digital in February that the Kennedy Center has no cash on hand, and that he would work to roll out shows that actually sell tickets.
“The Kennedy Center has zero cash on hand and zero dollars in reserves – while taking tens of millions of dollars in public funds,” Grenell told Fox News Digital in February. “We must have programs that sell tickets. We can’t afford to pay for content that doesn’t at least pay for itself right now. I wish we didn’t have to consider the costs of production, but we do.”
“The good news is that there are plenty of shows that are very popular, and therefore the ticket sales will pay for themselves,” Grenell added.
Leave a Reply