{"id":2451425,"date":"2025-06-24T16:08:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T20:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/grenell-slams-hamilton-duo-over-kennedy-center-boycott\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T16:08:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T20:08:02","slug":"grenell-slams-hamilton-duo-over-kennedy-center-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/grenell-slams-hamilton-duo-over-kennedy-center-boycott\/","title":{"rendered":"Grenell slams Hamilton duo over Kennedy Center boycott"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgrenell-slams-hamilton-duo-over-kennedy-center-boycott%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2451425&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Richard Grenell slams Hamilton duo over Kennedy Center boycott after invite-only pride event<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2157379\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kennedy-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Richard Grenell\">Kennedy Center<\/a> President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/richard-grenell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Richard Grenell\">Richard Grenell<\/a> panned an invite-only pride event that the team behind the hit musical <em>Hamilton<\/em> organized in coordination with five Democratic senators on Monday evening to protest President Donald Trump&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3416408\/kennedy-center-programming-expansion-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"takeover\">takeover<\/a> of the national cultural center.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kencen\/status\/1937293399524278608\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"lengthy statement\">lengthy statement<\/a>, Grenell said he was &ldquo;disappointed to learn&rdquo; that Jeffrey Seller and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the producer and creator of <em>Hamilton<\/em>, respectively, decided to &ldquo;boycott the Kennedy Center, refusing to perform for audience members who don&rsquo;t share their personal politics, and cosplay as victims of intolerance.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/3452685\/amazon-prime-wonder-project-unveils-new-faith-based-subscription-series\/\">Amazon Prime unveils new faith-based subscription series<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/3451276\/barbra-streisand-trump-america-chaos\/\">Barbra Streisand calls America &#8216;the worst of the chaos&#8217; in the world<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/3451145\/charlamagne-tha-god-iran-trump-impeachment\/\">Charlamagne tha God mocks &#8216;hypocrites&#8217; for condemning &#8216;routine&#8217; military action<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>In March, the <em>Hamilton<\/em> team canceled its planned performances, which were initially slated for the Kennedy Center next year. Despite their intended boycott, the duo proceeded with Monday&rsquo;s performance.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I cannot begin to understand what business it is of Mr. Seller or Mr. Miranda how audience members vote or how it could possibly be relevant to the sacred relationship between performers and ticket holders,&rdquo; Grenell said, &ldquo;but they&rsquo;ve made it clear that they won&rsquo;t perform for audiences that might contain Americans who disagree with them on matters irrelevant to the arts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Grenell&rsquo;s comments referred to a 90-minute Pride concert staged by Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO). The musical performance, titled <em>Love Is Love<\/em>, was also hosted by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).<\/p>\n<p>The <em>New York Times<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/06\/23\/arts\/music\/kennedy-center-pride-concert.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"first reported\">reported<\/a> on the event, which Grenell suggested Hickenlooper organized under false pretenses.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Earlier this month, Senator [Hickenlooper&rsquo;s] staff asked to rent space at the Kennedy Center for what his team billed as a first annual Talent show. We were pleased to welcome them to the Kennedy Center in this capacity,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We were only later notified by the <em>New York Times<\/em> that Senator Hickenlooper&rsquo;s event was instead an invite-only political stunt where, once again, the Kennedy Center was being used by political operatives to larp as victims of intolerance in order to get a story in the <em>Times<\/em>,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, a group of drag performers entered the same showing of <em>Les Mis&eacute;rables<\/em> that Trump and Vice President JD Vance attended with their wives. The political stunt was seen as an act of defiance against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p>Trump previously criticized the Kennedy Center&rsquo;s programming for being too &ldquo;woke&rdquo; when he took over the cultural institution by appointing Grenell as its leader, naming himself chairman, and firing members of the board of trustees.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA &mdash; ONLY THE BEST,&rdquo; Trump wrote on Truth Social in February.<\/p>\n<p>In line with Trump&rsquo;s anti-woke vision for the arts, Grenell moved to cut diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and LGBT programming at the Kennedy Center in favor of family-friendly shows.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is our way of reoccupying the Kennedy Center,&rdquo; Seller told the <em>New York Times<\/em> about the invite-only pride event. &ldquo;This is a form of saying, &lsquo;We are here, we exist and you can&rsquo;t ignore us.&rsquo; This is a protest, and a political act.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Grenell assured the public that the Kennedy Center has not been canceling anyone who disagrees with the Trump administration and instead welcomes &ldquo;everyone who wants to celebrate the arts&rdquo; on both sides of the aisle.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/3440371\/the-lefts-kennedy-center-whining-is-preposterous\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"THE LEFT'S KENNEDY CENTER WHINING IS PREPOSTEROUS\">THE LEFT&rsquo;S KENNEDY CENTER WHINING IS PREPOSTEROUS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We especially welcome artists and audience members who come to the Kennedy Center not for partisan political pranks but to experience excellence in the performing arts,&rdquo; he said, pointing out the <em>Hamilton<\/em> duo&rsquo;s performance in light of their boycott.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I am glad that Mr. Seller or Mr. Miranda have decided to perform at the Kennedy Center after having previously decided to boycott it entirely,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I hope they&rsquo;ll soon consider performing for all the families, school children, and others from across America who come to the Kennedy Center without imposing on them a political litmus test.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2157379\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2157379\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Grenell slams Hamilton duo over Kennedy Center boycott after invite-only pride event Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell panned an invite-only pride event that the team behind the hit musical Hamilton organized in coordination with five Democratic senators on Monday evening to protest President Donald Trump\u2019s takeover of the national cultural center. In a lengthy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2159,"featured_media":2451426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grenell_trump.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/grenell_trump.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2451426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}