The Daily Beast wrote with amusement that the Trump-branded Kennedy Center in D.C. has listed its coming attractions, and several of them feature drag performers. This, despite Trump denouncing the previous management for permitting anything that included drag actors.
Some shows that were originally scheduled cancel to protest the Trump takeover, including “Hamilton” and the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.
The new schedule includes one of Trump’s favorite shows, “Les Miserables.” You have to wonder whether he knows what the show is about.
But others have men playing women! Does he know?
The Daily Beast reported:
The Kennedy Center has announced its upcoming season lineup. For a theater that has supposedly banned performers wearing drag, its shows include an awful lot of men dressed as women.
When President Donald Trump purged the Kennedy Center’s bipartisan board of directors in February and took over as chairman of the new board, he announced an immediate ban on events featuring performers in drag.
“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” he wrote in a Truth Social post announcing a return to a “Golden Age in Arts and Culture” for the storied theater.
And yet the 2025-26 season announced Monday will include Chicago, Moulin Rouge! Mrs. Doubtfire, and Monty Python’s Spamalot, all of which typically feature performers in drag, The New York Times reported.
Mrs. Doubtfire
The entire plot of Mrs. Doubtfire revolves around a man dressing as an elderly woman in order to pose as a nanny and spend time with his children after he and his wife divorce.
Spamalot pokes fun at the medieval practice of male actors playing female parts with a number of drag bits.
In Chicago, a character named Mary Sunshine is typically a male soprano in drag whose wig is dramatically removed to emphasize a character’s assertion that things are “not always as they appear to be.”
And Moulin Rouge! features a literal drag queen named Baby Doll who is one of the courtesans performing alongside Satine at the Moulin Rouge cabaret.
Moulin Rouge and Chicago are sexually charged.
Trump said the new program would feature “family-friendly” shows. Hahahaha. I have seen all of these shows. Some of them are definitely NOT for children.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is the most distinguished scholarly organization in the nation. It is dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences. It is decidedly nonpartisan. I was elected to membership many years ago. AAAS rarely issues a statement. Its board did so in April because of unprecedented attacks on higher education, scholarly independence, and the rule of law.
A statement from the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Approved April 2025.
Since its founding in 1780, the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences has sought “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuouspeople.” We do this by celebrating excellence in every field of human endeavor and by supporting the unfettered pursuit of knowledge and its application to the common good.
The Academy fosters nonpartisan, deliberative discourse on pressing issues facing our communities in the United States and the world.Our founders were also the founders of our nation. From them, we inherit a deep commitment to the practice of democratic self-governance. Our constitutional democracy has been imperfect, but almost 250 years since its inception, it remains an inspiration to peoplenear and far. Ours is a great nation because ofour system of checks and balances, separation of powers, individual rights, and an independent judiciary — as the Academy’s founder JohnAdams put it, “a government of laws, not of men.” And we are a great nation because we haveinvested in the arts and sciences while protecting the freedom that enables them to flourish.
These values are under serious threat today.Every president of the United States has the prerogative to set new priorities and agendas; nopublic or private institution is above criticism or calls for reform; and no reasoned arguments, from the left or the right, should be silenced. But current developments, in their pace, scale, and hostility toward institutions dedicated to knowledge and the pursuit of truth, have little precedent in our modern history.
We oppose reckless funding cuts and restrictions that imperil the research enterprise of our universities, hospitals, and laboratories, which contribute enormously to our prosperity, health, and national security. We condemn efforts to censor our scholarly and cultural institutions, to curtail freedom of the press, and to purge inquiry or ideas that challenge prevailing policies. We vigorously support the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession, and opposeactions and threats intended to erode thatindependence and, in turn, the rule of law.
In this time of challenge, we cherish theseprinciples and stand resilient against efforts to undermine them. The Academy will continue to urge public support for the arts and sciences, and also work to safeguard the conditions of freedom necessary for novel discoveries, creative expression, and truth-seeking in all its forms. We join a rising chorus of organizations and individuals determined to invigorate the democratic ideals of our republic and its constitutional values, and prevent our nation from sliding toward autocracy.
In the coming months and years, the Academy will rededicate itself to studying, building, and amplifying the practices of constitutional democracy in their local and national forms, with particular focus on its pillars of freedom of expression and the rule of law. We call on all citizens to help fortify a civic culture unwavering in its commitment to our founding principles.
Think about how to take seriously Jesus’s teachings about kindness, mercy, love, compassion. Feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, welcome the stranger.
As you know, Trump took control of The Kennedy Center and named himself chairman of the board. He kicked all Democrats off the board and named Trumpers to replace them.
Some artists cancelled, some continued to perform. Trump’s new director, Richard Grennel, canceled the national tour of a children’s show called “Finn,” because it promoted love, kindness, and tolerance.
A band called Guster was performing at The Kennedy Center on March 29, and the band leader talked about the cancellation of “Finn.” Then he invited the cast of “Finn” to join him onstage and the audience went wild.
Trump can’t keep his hands off anything. In his mad dash to be king, he has decided to reshape the Smithsonian Institution. Will he close exhibits he doesn’t like? We know he’s completely ignorant of history, so whatever he does will suit his prejudices. He has put JD Vance in charge. Will he withdraw references to “the trail of tears”? Will he remove references to the brutality of slavery?
The Smithsonian, a sprawling, 21-museum institution tasked with telling the story of the United States and much more, could see changes under President Donald Trump, who in a Thursday executive order set his sights on ridding the institution of ideas that he says “undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States.”
According to a White House fact sheet summarizing the order, the president has instructed the vice president “to eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology” from the institution’s entities.
Trump’s unprecedented call to influence programming at an institution that has operated largely independently for its more than 175-year history raises questions about the fate of millions of items the country holds in what’s sometimes called “the nation’s attic.”
But who runs and funds the Smithsonian and can Trump overhaul it like he is the federal government? Here’s what to know.
The Smithsonian was created by Congress in 1846 with funds from James Smithson, a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to establish an institution “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Smithson never visited the United States, though his remains are now housed at the Smithsonian Institution Building, known as the Castle.
These days, the Smithsonian is about 62 percent federally funded by a combination of congressional appropriation along with federal grants and contracts. The rest comes from trust funds or nonfederal sources, which include endowments, donations and memberships, as well as revenue from magazines, restaurants, concessions and more. The institution’s federal budget for the 2024 fiscal year was more than $1 billion.
Is the Smithsonian a government agency?
No, the Smithsonian is not a federal agency but a “trust instrumentality” of the United States, tasked with carrying out the responsibilities undertaken by Congress when it accepted Smithson’s donation. It’s overseen by the secretary, currently Lonnie G. Bunch III, who is appointed by the Board of Regents — made up of the chief justice, vice president, three members of the Senate, three members of the House and nine citizens.
The Smithsonian describes itself as the “world’s largest museum, education, and research complex” and includes 21 museums — two in development — 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo. It holds a dizzying array of objects, from fighter jets hanging from the high ceilings of the Udvar-Hazy Center all the way down to the tiny specimens at the National Museum of Natural History.
Recently, Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha attended a concert at the Kennedy Center in D.C. When they sat down in their box seats overlooking the audience, they were loudly booed by the audience.
The audience was doubtless reacting to Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, purging its leaders and replacing every Democrat on the bipartisan Board with a Republican. He named himself as chairman of the Board, thus ensuring that no artist would dare to insult him as others had done in the past. Trump complained about “woke” performances, but admitted he never attended the Kennedy Center. Several artists cancelled their performances, as did the celebrated multiracial Broadway show “Hamilton.”
Trump’s hand-picked acting Director of the Kennedy Center is Richard Grennell, who has no experience in the arts but served as Trump’s Ambassador to Germany.
When Grennell heard that VP Vance had been loudly booed, he issued a statement on Twitter.
Richard Grenell, whom Mr. Trump named as the center’s new president, posted on social media on Friday morning that the video showing Mr. Vance being booed “should challenge us all to commit to making the Kennedy Center a place where everyone is welcomed.”
“It troubles me to see that so many in the audience appear to be white and intolerant of diverse political views,” he wrote. “Diversity is our strength. We must do better. We must welcome EVERYONE. We will not allow the Kennedy Center to be an intolerant place.”
On Friday morning, Richard Grenell, an ally of President Donald Trump made interim president of the Kennedy Center by Trump’s new board of trustees, sent an email to the center’s staff, reviewed by The Washington Post, stating that he “received several messages from Kennedy Center staffers sharing their embarrassment over more than a few Symphony patrons loudly booing the Vice President and his wife last night.”
“As the premier Arts organization in the United States of America, we must work to make the Kennedy Center a place where everyone is welcomed,” Grenell wrote. “We clearly have work to do. And I hear your outrage.”
He cited the center’s diversity as a strength. “As President, I take diversity and inclusion very seriously,” he wrote. “I have met with many of you, and I love that we are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, agnostic, gay, straight, black, white, Hispanic and absolutely different.
WHAT?
Doesn’t he know that Trump banned “diversity” and “inclusion”?
Doesn’t he know that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed all literature that said “Diversity is our strength”?
Why was Gremnell complaining about an audience in which “so many…appear to be white”? Many Black performers have cancelled their appearances at the Kennedy Center because of Trump’s unprecedented takeover and his harsh attacks on diversity and inclusion.
Trump doesn’t understand the arts. There is no evidence that he has ever been interested in the arts. He doesn’t understand that the arts by their nature are cutting-edge. They take us to imaginative worlds we knew nothing about. They expand our horizons. We can see and love Beethoven, Bach, and Shakespeare, but artists today are living in the 21st century and they express what they think and feel now. They introduce us to new worlds.
Trump took control of the Kennedy Center in D.C., one of the greatest venues for the arts in the world. He had to because every year at the awards ceremony, the artists laughed at him. They ridiculed him. They treated him as an enemy, which indeed he was.
Now that Trump appointed himself as chair of the board, he changed the composition of the board. What was once a bipartisan board, divided equally among Democrats and Republicans, is now 100% all-Trump.
The only way he could stifle those annoying artists was to make himself the chair of the board! No more laughing at Trump! With Trump in charge, no drag shows! Nothing about race or gender! Nothing transgressive! Trump has a track record of destroying whatever he touches. He may destroy the Kennedy Cenrer. Just for spite.
Trump is a vulgarian. He despises artistic freedom. He hates drag shows. He despises WOKE culture. Art is often woke. Ibsen was woke. Most artists are woke.
The President of the Kennedy Center, Deborah Rutter, saw the handwriting on the wall. She resigned, as of December 31, 2025. She will leave sooner now that Trump runs her agency.
She did not understand the tsunami about to hit the Kennedy Center.
Playbill (the Broadway publication) tells the story. If you care about artistic freedom, it’s horrifying.
President Donald Trump has been elected as chairman of the board at the Kennedy Center, after replacing board members appointed by former President Joe Biden with his own loyalists. The board members took a vote and named Trump chair in a meeting held Wednesday afternoon. In response, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter has announced that she is stepping down from the organization effective immediately. Rutter announced two weeks ago that she would stay in her position until the end of the year, but it seems the recent turmoil at the Washington, D.C. arts organization led to her early departure.
Trump has named loyalist Richard Grenell as interim Kennedy Center President. Grenell, currently the special presidential envoy for special missions, does not appear to have any background in the arts or arts administration. The role of president is typically tasked with the institution’s programming choices, while the chair and the board usually acts in an advisory capacity (though that will likely no longer be the case considering Trump’s strong language for what he plans for the organization).
Rutter, who had held her position since 2014, released a statement before she departed, about the importance of artistic freedom: “Much like our democracy itself, artistic expression must be nurtured, fostered, prioritized, and protected. It is not a passive endeavor; indeed, there is no clearer sign of American democracy at work than our artists, the work they produce, and audiences’ unalienable right to actively participate.”
Trump, who in previous statements vowed to ban drag shows from the venue, wrote on Wednesday on Truth Social: “It is a great honor to be chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with this amazing Board of Trustees. We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!” Historically, the Kennedy Center’s board had been made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans. The new board is made up entirely of Trump appointees—including Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles and Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance. There are 14 new members, with 31 total members.
According to CBS news, Trump also plans to ban “woke culture” from the Kennedy Center.
“Throughout our history, the Kennedy Center has enjoyed strong support from members of congress and their staffs—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents,” reads a statement from The Kennedy Center released on news of the board members’ termination last week. “Since our doors opened in 1971, we have had a collaborative relationship with every presidential administration. Since that time, the Kennedy Center has had a bi-partisan board of trustees that has supported the arts in a non-partisan fashion.”
Though it is a non-profit institution, only a small portion of the Kennedy Center’s budget comes from the federal government. As the venue’s previous statement shares, the institution “is supported by federal annual appropriations for upkeep and maintenance of the building as a federal memorial, or approximately 16% of the total operating budget.” Its artistic programming, on the other hand, is maintained through “ticket sales, donations, rental income, and other revenue sources.”
Since his return to the White House, Trump has taken a more controlling approach to the arts. He has also eliminated the Presidential Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, a Reagan-era advisory body that had been disbanded during Trump’s first term and then restarted in 2022 by the Biden administration. Executive orders targeting the trans community and DEI efforts have also thrown federal arts funding into chaos, following updated guidelines from the NEA.
From South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Washington, comes a sensational performance of them”Halleluia Chorus” of Handel’s “Messiah,” performed by silent monks using flashcards. This video has racked up millions of views on Facebook and YouTube.
Situated on the iconic Eiffel Tower, which was adorned by the Olympic rings, the French Canadian singer serenaded the world with Édith Piaf’s “L’Hymne à l’amour” (“Hymn to Love”) after the Olympic cauldron was lit.
Dion is afflicted with a rare disease called “stiff person syndrome” that could cause her to go into a seizure at any moment. She thought it ended her career four years ago.
What courage to perform this thrilling song before an international audience of millions of people!
Born to a French-Canadian family in Quebec, Dion is the youngest of 14 children.
