Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Ric Grenell explains why artists may be refusing to perform at the Trump-Kennedy Center


The elites in the performing arts world are throwing a full-blown meltdown over President Trump's name joining JFK's on the Kennedy Center, and it's exposing just how intolerant the left truly is when they don't get their way.

Red State recently reported, that the board of trustees, stacked with Trump's appointees, voted unanimously to rename the iconic venue The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, or the Trump-Kennedy Center for short. This honors Trump's massive efforts throughout 2025 to rescue and revitalize the place, pouring in upgrades and modernization under the guidance of his handpicked interim president, Ric Grenell.

New signs went up almost overnight, and that's when the hissy fits began, not from ticket buyers, but from the performers themselves.

Nick Arama, another reporter from Red State, nailed the coverage on jazz musician Chuck Redd, who'd been hosting the center's Christmas Eve "Jazz Jams" since 2006. He bailed at the last minute after spotting the name change. "When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert," Redd told The Associated Press.

Grenell wasn't having it, hitting back hard and threatening a $1 million lawsuit against Redd for breaching his contract.

"Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” Grenell wrote.

“Regrettably, your action surrenders to the sad bullying tactics employed by certain elements on the left, who have sought to intimidate artists into boycotting performances at our national cultural center," he added.

And Redd's not alone in prioritizing politics over paying fans. The New York jazz outfit The Cookers ditched their New Year's Eve shows, bloviating that "Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice."

Are you kidding?  Adding Trump's name to the building somehow muzzles "human voices"? 

Cut me a huss [don't Google it; Grok it], Trump didn't silence anyone; these guys are the ones ditching their audiences.

Country/folk singer Kristy Lee scrapped her January slot to preserve what she called her integrity, and the Doug Varone and Dancers company axed their April dates, whining they couldn't "step inside this once great institution." Of course it's their call, but don't pretend it's anything but a TDS-fueled tantrum.

Sure, artists cancel for all sorts of reasons: sickness, emergencies, or straight-up political freak-outs. But Grenell dropped a bombshell, claiming he's heard directly from booked acts that CNN and The Washington Post are actively emailing them, pushing boycotts of the Trump-Kennedy Center.

If that's accurate, and there's zero reason to doubt Grenell on this, it's outright interference, the media acting as left-wing activists trying to sabotage a national institution. Classic. It lays bare the left's entitlement: they think they own places like this, and if Trump touches it, they'll burn it down so nobody else can enjoy it. The real victims? The fans and patrons who lose out because orange man bad.

This is peak liberal hypocrisy on display, and it's glorious to watch it backfire.

If you like Brain Flushings and want to Buy Me a Coffee, I would appreciate it, as it supports my work and my coffee drinking habit. Obviously, there is no pressure but I certainly wouldn't stop you from doing me that solid. Imagine, you could be the first on your block to do that and your friends will thank you . . . for some reason. 


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