Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center president fumed at the brains behind Hamilton over an event staged Monday at the iconic arts institution, highlighting tensions between “woke” performers and new MAGA leadership.
Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist, unleashed a lengthy rant against Hamilton’s lead producer Jeffrey Seller and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda for producing a Pride Month concert in collaboration with five Democratic senators.
Though there were no indications that Miranda was present at or involved in the event, Grenell accused the Hamilton duo of being in cahoots with Senators John Hickenlooper, Elizabeth Warren, Brian Schatz, Jacky Rosen, and Tammy Baldwin, who hosted the invite-only event to protest Trump’s overhaul of the storied Washington, D.C. cultural center.
Statement from Ambassador Richard Grenell, President of the Kennedy Center:I’m disappointed to learn that Hamilton Producer @jseller and Hamilton Creator @Lin_Manuel are working with Democratic Senators and the New York Times to boycott the Kennedy Center, refusing to perform…
— The Kennedy Center (@kencen) June 23, 2025
“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, but they’ve made it clear that they won’t perform for audiences that might contain Americans who disagree with them on matters irrelevant to the arts,” Grenell wrote.
Seller told The New York Times that Hickenlooper invited him to produce the show, which featured performances from Broadway artists like Hamilton alum Javier Muñoz, Tony winner Brandon Uranowitz, and composer Andrew Lippa.
“This is our way of reoccupying the Kennedy Center,” Seller told The Times. “This is a form of saying, ‘We are here, we exist and you can’t ignore us.’ This is a protest, and a political act.”
Hickenlooper said in an X post that “this is about standing up for freedom. It’s about standing up for self-expression. At the core of it all, it’s about standing up for love.”
This is about standing up for freedom. It’s about standing up for self-expression. At the core of it all, it’s about standing up for love. pic.twitter.com/qfWMTexiwS
— Senator John Hickenlooper (@SenatorHick) June 23, 2025
Grenell said Hickenlooper’s team billed the event as a talent show when they asked to rent the Kennedy Center’s Justice Forum.
“We were pleased to welcome them to the Kennedy Center in this capacity,” he said. “We were only later notified by the New York Times that Senator Hickenlooper’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 Times.”
“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, but I hope they’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,” he added.
In February, Trump led a MAGA makeover of the Kennedy Center by firing its board to install himself as chairman and Grenell as president. Trump vowed to eradicate programming at the cultural center that he perceived as “woke.”
The overhaul triggered boycotts from Hamilton, which canceled its March and April runs at the Kennedy Center, and Trump’s favorite Les Misérables, whose cast members snubbed his gala night.
“We cannot presently support an institution that has been forced by external forces to betray its mission as a national cultural center that fosters the free expression of art,” Seller said in a March statement announcing the Hamilton cancellation.
The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives for Seller and Miranda for comment.
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