2025 has not been a very good PR year for the John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts. In February, Donald Trump fired numerous board members including its longtime president Deborah Rutter, and then appointed a fleet of new staffers to elect him as the institution's new chairman. Perturbed by Trump's goal to take down "woke culture," Ben Folds, Renée Fleming, and Shonda Rhimes have all stepped down from their positions at the Kennedy Center, as artists including Rhiannon Giddons, Balún, Issa Rae, Low Cut Connie, Amanda Rheaume, and the producers of Hamilton have all canceled previously-scheduled performances there.
The Kennedy Center's current interim executive director is Richard Grenell, a Trump crony who was ambassador to Germany during the president's first administration. Today, the composer and guitarist Yasmin Williams shared a series of emails she exchanged with Grenell after asking him directly about changes at the Kennedy Center. The responses are telling.
"Most folks seem to be placing the blame on the President for [degrading] the formerly prestigious institution, with lots of people I know who live in the area, and elsewhere, stating that they will no longer attend shows at the Kennedy Center and/or won't play there until the President leaves office," Williams wrote to Grenell. "With this provided context, my two questions are: does the President actually care about artists cancelling shows at the Kennedy Center? What, if anything, has changed about the Kennedy Center regarding hiring practices, performance booking, and staffing?" To that, Grenell responded bizarrely: "Let me ask you this question, would you play for Republicans or would you boycott if Republicans came to your show?"
When Williams questioned the relevancy of Grenell's question, he continued: "Every single person who cancelled a show did so because they couldn't be in the presence of republicans. We didn't fire a single show. We don't cancel a single show. You shouldn't believe what you read in the newspapers who exist to hate republicans. Read more. Don't swallow what the media tells you. Don't be gullible." (The Kennedy Center did cancel Finn, a coming-of-age children's musical, saying it was a "purely financial decision.")
Williams then asked, "Is the Kennedy Center negatively affected by the artists who are canceling shows? What, if anything, has changed about the Kennedy Center regarding hiring practices, performance booking, and staffing?" Here's the doozy of an email Grenell sent back:
I'm too busy to confront your vapidness to believe what you read without doing your own research.
But I will say that your assumptions are wrong. The Kennedy has zero in the bank and zero in reserves and has been paying the staff with debt reserve money for the past 8 months.
The fundraising has been atrocious. The building is falling down and the place hasn't been updated in 20 years.
They just added a new facility that they didn't need and told donors they would spend $100 million on it - they spent $260 million.
The programs are so woke that they haven't made money.
Yes, I cut the DEI bullshit because we can't afford to pay people for fringe and niche programming that the public won't support. Yes, I cut the people making over $500k a year because we are in debt. Yes, we are doing programming for the masses in order to pay our bills.
Let me remind, YOU reached out to me unsolicited and accused me of being an intolerant. Don't be a victim now. You asked.
And here's Williams' incredibly diplomatic response to that nonsense:
Thanks for your responses! I would request that you re-read my original email since you seem to be extremely defensive and rude for no reason. I never accused you of being intolerant... I don't know you. I was relaying what others have said regarding the Kennedy Center and I asked my own questions. I'm honestly shocked at how unprofessional your emails are, but I guess that's par for the course these days, on both sides of the political aisle.
"Absolutely insane" indeed. Read the exchange Williams shared below.
