Patti LuPone stopped the end of her Carnegie Hall concert Monday to issue a passionate plea to stand up to President Trump over his treatment of the Kennedy Center, telling those present, “We have to speak up again.”
“This is now about the Kennedy Center. It’s time for us — it’s over time for us! — to rise up and speak,” the three-time Tony winner told her crowd Monday in New York. She went on to declare that Trump, whom she called “the buffoon,” “cannot, cannot, cannot touch the Kennedy Center!”
LuPone’s comments come just days after Trump announced this past Sunday his plan to close the Kennedy Center for two years to remodel it. The president has maintained that the decision was made purely in the interest of renovating the center and bringing it to the “highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur.”
Trump’s critics have, however, speculated that the move was made to cover up his administration’s inability to fill the center’s seats or book enough performing artists. The president has received consistent, fierce pushback regarding the Kennedy Center ever since he took it over last year.
Since then, he has not only appointed his own members to the institution’s board, but also added his name to its building and hosted the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors himself. Along the way, multiple artists have canceled their scheduled performances at the venue.
“I’m sorry but I’m so mad,” LuPone remarked Monday night. “This actually strikes close to home because art is the soul of the nation. And think about it, when was the last time you heard the words ‘art’ and ‘culture’ in a conversation in this country? We have to speak up again. We have to elevate it, and one of the ways we’re going to elevate it is to keep the buildings standing.”
In the wake of his destruction of the White House’s East Wing last year in order to build his new presidential ballroom, Trump’s Kennedy Center announcement immediately sparked concerns about what changes he would make to the building itself. Trump nonetheless defended his $200 million renovation plan while speaking with White House reporters Monday.
“When it opens, it’s going to be brand new. Beautiful. I’m not ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel,” Trump said of the Kennedy Center. “We’re using the structure. We’re using some of the marble and some of the marble comes down. But when it’s open, it will be brand new and really beautiful.”
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