WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he’s firing members of the board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Middle for the Performing Arts and naming himself chairman.
He additionally indicated that he could be dictating programming at one of many nation’s premier cultural establishments, particularly declaring that he would finish occasions that includes performers in drag.
Trump’s announcement Friday got here because the Republican president has bulldozed his approach throughout official Washington through the first weeks of his second time period, attempting to shutter federal companies, freeze spending and ending variety, fairness and inclusion initiatives throughout the federal government.
“At my route, we’re going to make the Kennedy Middle in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I’ve determined to instantly terminate a number of people from the Board of Trustees, together with the Chairman, who don’t share our Imaginative and prescient for a Golden Age in Arts and Tradition,” Trump wrote on his social media web site.
“We’ll quickly announce a brand new Board, with a tremendous Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!”
In a press release afterward its web site, the Kennedy Middle stated it was conscious of Trump’s publish. “We have now acquired no official communications from the White Home concerning modifications to our board of trustees,” the assertion stated. “We’re conscious that some members of our board have acquired termination notices from the administration.”
The assertion continued: “Per the Middle’s governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Middle’s board members. There may be nothing within the Middle’s statute that may stop a brand new administration from changing board members; nonetheless, this is able to be the primary time such motion has been taken with the Kennedy Middle’s board.”
Drag artists accused Trump of focusing on them due to who they’re in a rustic the place freedom of expression is assured by the Structure.
“That is about who will get to exist in public areas and whose tales get to be instructed on America’s stage,” stated Blaq Dinamyte, president of Qommittee, a nationwide community of drag artists and allies. “Banning a complete artwork kind is censorship, plain and easy. People don’t should agree on the whole lot, however we should always have the ability to communicate our minds and carry out our artwork with out bans, retaliation, or intimidation.”
In contrast to Democratic President Joe Biden and different presidents via the many years, Trump didn’t attend the annual Kennedy Middle Honors ceremonies throughout his first time period.
Shortly after Trump’s publish, the Kennedy Middle web site started experiencing technical difficulties. Guests obtained a message studying “We’re experiencing excessive visitors” and have been redirected to a “ready room” that listed what number of tons of of individuals have been attempting to entry the positioning forward of them.
Trump steered in his publish that he could be implementing some modifications to the middle’s efficiency schedule, noting that final 12 months “the Kennedy Middle featured Drag Reveals particularly focusing on our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
Based on its web site, the middle in July hosted a preshow titled “A Drag Salute to Divas” and a November “Drag Brunch.”
In his publish, Trump didn’t make clear which board of trustee members he would terminate moreover the present chairman, philanthropist David Rubenstein. The board usually options political powerbrokers and main donors, and is presently made up of members from either side of the aisle.
Rubenstein was first elected to the publish in 2010 and reelected every year since that point. He was initially appointed to the Kennedy Middle board by Republican President George W. Bush and subsequently reappointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and Biden.
The present board options Biden’s White Home press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, in addition to Mike Donilon, Biden’s longtime ally, and Stephanie Cutter, a former Obama adviser. The treasurer of the middle’s board of trustees is tv producer Shonda Rhimes, who hosted fundraisers for Biden earlier than he deserted his reelection bid final summer season.
However the present board additionally options Trump allies, together with Pam Bondi, his just lately confirmed legal professional normal, and Lee Greenwood, whose tune “God Bless the USA,” was the unofficial anthem of Trump’s presidential campaigns.
Throughout his first time period in 2019, Trump introduced that he was tapping actor Jon Voight, a longtime supporter, to the board, together with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who’s Trump’s second-term decide to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
—Related Press author Darlene Superville in Palm Seashore, Florida, contributed to this report.
