Trump's Kennedy Center Boss Gave Top Job to Anti-Gay Birther

Yahoo

a day ago

A MAGA conspiracy theorist has been fired from the Kennedy Center by its openly gay boss just a month into his job over his opposition to gay marriage.
Floyd Brown, who was hired as vice president of development at the Kennedy Center over a month ago, was fired Wednesday after CNN reached out to him with questions about his previous controversial statements on social media about same-sex marriage and homosexuality.
'My firing came approximately two hours after @CNN sent an email asking me to comment on my past writings and statements about traditional marriage and homosexual influence in the @GOP,' Brown wrote on X Thursday.
As a conservative media commentator, Brown had criticized the United States for legalizing same-sex marriage as well as calling homosexuality 'a punishment' and 'immoral.'
As vice president of development at the Kennedy Center, Brown was responsible for overseeing major gift campaigns and the annual fund, which coordinates annual contributions from corporations, foundations, and individual donors, according to LinkedIn. His appointment and monthlong tenure had not garnered public attention until news of his firing broke.
Brown said he was fired by Richard Grenell, who replaced former longtime Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter earlier this year. Grenell is openly gay—a fact Brown underscored on X.
'CNN also contacted @RichardGrenell, who is a professing Christian and is married to a male spouse,' he wrote. 'I am at times outspoken on public policy. ... I also frequently speak at churches and Christian conferences.'
Brown shared his response to CNN, in which he said, 'It was truly not my intention to offend anyone with my comments.'
'Comments rooted in my personal Christian views, which I have made in the past, have no impact upon my work here at the Kennedy Center nor do they impinge on my interactions with colleagues who do incredible work for the patrons of the Center,' he wrote.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Brown for further comment.
In his X post, Brown went on to claim that a request to speak with Grenell was denied, and the only explanation he was given for his dismissal was his remarks on marriage.
'Floyd, you must recant your belief in traditional marriage and your past statements on the topic, or you will be fired,' he recalled being told. Brown did not indicate who made the remark.
'Needless to say, I refused to recant and was shown the door. My beliefs are much more common to Biblical Christianity,' he said.
Brown staunchly defended his 'Christian views,' saying that, as a Christian, he is 'called to work with others of different beliefs and worldviews.'
'I have never intended to attack or demean any person in my statements and have always shared the mission of Jesus, striving to love others unconditionally,' he said.
Brown also spread conspiracy theories about former President Barack Obama on his now-deleted website, ExposeObama.com, where he questioned the veracity of the former president's birth certificate and falsely claimed that Obama was Muslim.
The MAGA loyalist did not address those comments in his response to CNN, instead focusing on his 'Christian beliefs.'
Brown has also previously voiced his disapproval of 'homosexual self-proclaimed conservatives,' condemning the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) for its 'acceptance of the open promotion of the gay lifestyle inside the tent of conservatism' in a 2011 article.
In that article, he further stated that homosexuality is 'a sin, and the addict is to be pitied and accepted in Christian love—but not the pusher or promoter of the agenda.'
A source confirmed to CNN that Grenell did not meet with Brown, saying that Grenell was not involved in his hiring.
They added that Grenell didn't even know Brown at all, despite Brown claiming that the pair met when Brown was a political organizer in Arizona.