Donald Trump Says He’s Naming Ric Grenell To Serve As Acting Executive Director Of The Kennedy Center — Update
UPDATED, with additional comment: Donald Trump continued his takeover of the Kennedy Center today, as he named loyalist Ric Grenell to serve as interim executive director.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am pleased to announce that Ric Grenell will serve as the Interim Executive Director of The Kennedy Center. Ric shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST. RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!”
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There is no executive director position at the Kennedy Center. Deborah Rutter currently serves as president of the arts institution, and it is unclear what her status is. In January, she announced plans to step down at the end of the year.
Grenell served as U.S. ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence in Trump’s first administration. He has been serving as envoy for special missions during the current administration.
Trump’s announcement follows his announcement last week that he planned to fire about half of the board of the Kennedy Center, reflected in the arts organization’s roster Monday, with a list of Joe Biden-appointees no longer named as trustees.
Also missing was the center’s chairman, philanthropist David Rubenstein, as Trump has said he plans to appoint himself to that position. Rubenstein is now listed among the chairmen emeriti.
Trump defended his plans, which he announced Friday, telling reporters Sunday that “I want to make sure it runs properly.”
“We don’t need woke at the Kennedy Center,” he said. “Some of the shows were terrible. They were a disgrace that they were even put on. So I will be there until such time it gets to be running right.”
But he told reporters that he has not seen any shows at the Kennedy Center. “I got reports it was so bad. I didn’t want to go. There was nothing I wanted to see,” he said.
The Kennedy Center slate this year includes a pretty standard, safe and apolitical slate. Among its major offerings includes Shear Madness, Riverdance 30: The New Generation, Les Miserables, Legally Blonde, Sesame Street the Musical, Parade and The Sound of Music. In March, the center is hosting Earth to Space: Arts Breaking the Sky, with performances designed around exploration. A more topical show is the satire Eureka Day, centered on the board of a private California elementary school trying to decide what to do about an outbreak of the mumps.
A Kennedy Center spokesperson said that the White House sent a list of terminated board members earlier today.
Among the Biden appointees removed were Elizabeth Alexander, who served as First Lady Jill Biden’s communications director; musician Jon Batiste, who sang the National Anthem at Sunday’s Super Bowl, which Trump attended; political strategist Stephanie Cutter; former Biden adviser Mike Donilon; former White House Social Secretary Carlos Elizondo; former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; attorney Chris Korge; activist Henry Munoz; Katherine Lynn Petrelius, who served as White House deputy director of personnel; event planner and designer Bryan Rafanelli; Amy Blanchard Ricchetti; former White House cabinet secretary Evan Ryan; and attorney Robin Wiessmann.
Seventeen board members remain including Brian Ballard, the Trump-aligned lobbyist; Pam Bondi, the attorney general; Elaine Chao, who served as Trump’s secretary of transportation in his first term; and singer Lee Greenwood. Board members are appointed to six-year terms.
Jean-Pierre said in a statement, “It was an honor to be appointed and to be on the board. I’ll be fine. But we all must continue the work to ensure that the arts and humanities remain a core fabric of our society and culture. This is when we must double down on believing that all hope is not lost and the only people who can push us forward to our greatest humanity … is us. We got this.”
Still listed as treasurer of the Kennedy Center is Shonda Rhimes. She was appointed to the board by Barack Obama.
Biden appointed more than a dozen board members in the final weeks of his presidency. At the Kennedy Center Honors this year, Rutter expressed optimism that the new administration would support the center, pointing to a longtime bipartisan tradition and the fact that Biden and Trump appointees would be evenly split.
But Trump wanted to defy tradition and oust anyone connected to his predecessor, setting up the center to be dominated by he and his allies.
The Kennedy Center said in a statement Friday that the chair of the board is appointed by the trustees, but “there is nothing in the Center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.”
Trump declined to attend the Kennedy Center Honors in his four years as president. In his first year in office, in 2017, honorees including Norman Lear said that they would boycott a traditional pre-ceremony White House reception to protest Trump’s proposed cuts to arts funding.
Rubenstein, who has poured tens of millions of dollars into restoring monuments and historic sites, had planned to step down from the board of the Kennedy Center last month. But last year, he agreed to remain in that role through 2026. A spokesperson for Rubenstein said he had no comment.
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