Kennedy Center shake-up will usher in 'Golden Age of the Arts' under Trump, Ric Grenell previews
The Kennedy Center will usher in the "Golden Age of the Arts" in Washington, D.C., as its new leadership under President Donald Trump plans to roll out productions that will "sell tickets" and appeal to the public, interim Executive Director Richard Grenell told Fox News Digital.
"This will be the Golden Age of the Arts," Grenell told Fox News Digital in an exclusive comment on the matter. "The Kennedy Center has zero cash on hand and zero dollars in reserves - while taking tens of millions of dollars in public funds. We must have programs that sell tickets. We can't afford to pay for content that doesn't at least pay for itself right now. I wish we didn't have to consider the costs of production, but we do."
"The good news is that there are plenty of shows that are very popular, and therefore the ticket sales will pay for themselves," Grenell added.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts serves as the national cultural center of the U.S. and is now led by President Donald Trump as its chairman, Grenell and its board of trustees.
Trump Envoy Richard Grenell Secures Freedom For 6 Americans Following Meeting With Maduro In Venezuela
The center came under scrutiny this week as the media and liberal critics spotlighted that a performance by the Gay Men's Chorus and National Symphony Orchestra slated for May as part of Washington, D.C.'s gay pride celebrations was canceled, with critics attempting to tie the cancelation to the Trump administration. The chorus and orchestra were scheduled to perform a show titled "A Peacock Among Pigeons," which is based on an LGBT-themed children's book.
Read On The Fox News App
Trump Fires Kennedy Center Board Members Citing Drag Shows, Appoints Himself Chairman
The performance, however, was put on the chopping block weeks before the center's leadership change and was canceled due to lack of ticket sales, Fox News Digital learned. The center's new leadership has not canceled any shows since taking the reins of the cultural center, a source familiar with the Kennedy Center's operations told Fox Digital.
"Artists who have pulled down their shows are only punishing themselves and the patrons. It shows the artists have an intolerance to engage with those of differing opinions. Republicans are patrons, too, they should remember that," the source said of recent left-leaning performers and celebrities who have pulled out of shows.
Grenell, who also serves as special presidential envoy for special missions under the second Trump administration, joined the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday, where he pushed back that the production had been canceled over Trump.
"Suddenly it was, the Gay Men's Chorus was dropping out because of Trump. That wasn't true," Grenell added. "It was replaced with with some other things, that happens all the time."
A production of "The Wizard of Oz" replaced the planned performance of "A Peacock Among Pigeons," the executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra said earlier this week, underscoring that the planned performance had been canceled before the leadership change and was due to financial issues.
"Before the leadership transition at the Kennedy Center, we made the decision to postpone Peacock Among Pigeons due to financial and scheduling factors. We chose to replace it with 'The Wizard of Oz,' another suitable program for World PRIDE participation," the orchestra's Executive Director, Jean Davidson, said in a statement earlier this week.
Actress Issa Rae Cancels Sold-out Kennedy Center Show After Trump Named Chairman Of Venue
"Program changes are a common practice. We were unable to announce the replacement program until we had secured the rights to present it, but in the interest of transparency, we removed the original program from the website to prevent further ticket sales. The Gay Men's Chorus was to be contracted as a guest artist for Peacock Among Pigeons," Davidson added.
Grenell previewed during his remarks at CPAC that the Kennedy Center will now focus on performances "the public want to see," such as Christmas-focused productions in December.
"We have to do the big productions that the masses and the public want to see, we want to have really good programming," he said. "So the first thing that we're doing … you've got to be at the Kennedy Center in December, because we are doing a big, huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas. How crazy is it to think that we're going to celebrate Christ at Christmas with a big traditional production to celebrate what we are all celebrating in the world during Christmastime, which is the birth of Christ."
Trump fired a handful of the center's previous board members earlier this month, arguing that they did "not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture." He replaced the former members with 14 other members, including allies such as second lady Usha Vance and "God Bless the USA" singer lee Greenwood.
"At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture," Trump posted to Truth Social on Feb. 7.
Trump indicated that the motivation behind firing the former board members was due to the Kennedy Center's drag show performances under the Biden administration that targeted children.
"Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!" Trump said on Truth Social earlier this month.
Top Trump Official Rallies Behind President Amid Backlash For 'Dictator' Attack On Zelenskyy
"We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!" he added.
The new board elected Trump as chairman on Feb. 12. Trump appointed Grenell – who became the U.S.'s first openly gay cabinet member under the first Trump administration when he served as acting director of national intelligence – as interim executive director amid the board shakeup.
"I think the frustration that President Trump had is that the Kennedy Center has no cash on hand, no reserves, and they have been paying for the salaries with the debt reserves, while taking around $40 million of public money," Grenell said at CPAC on Friday.Original article source: Kennedy Center shake-up will usher in 'Golden Age of the Arts' under Trump, Ric Grenell previews
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Maher advises Democrats to ‘win' Elon Musk ‘back'
Comedian and media pundit Bill Maher is advising Democrats to 'win' back tech billionaire Elon Musk after the world's richest man fell out publicly with President Trump. Maher slammed some Democratic strategists' proposal that the party needs to have its own version of Joe Rogan. Instead, Maher said, Democrats should ask themselves why they lost 'the old one' since he 'used to be on your side.' 'He's expressed unease with some things Trump is doing, as has a certain disgruntled former employee named Elon Musk, who, like Joe, is another guy who, five years ago, was thought of as a liberal but got driven into the other camp by bad attitudes and bad ideas, a reversal I completely understand, although I would never emulate,' Maher said Friday night on HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher.' 'They tried real hard to cancel Rogan a few years ago, and when Elon hosted Saturday Night Live in 2021, well before he was a Trumper, some of the cast members gave him the cold shoulder for the sin of being rich. You think people don't remember when you do this s— to them that it's not going to have blowback,' the comedian said, alluding to Musk's previous support for Democratic candidates, including former Presidents Biden and Obama. 'Now me again. You don't have to win me back, because I never left. But all the guys in America like Joe and Elon, yeah, you do have to win them back. The good news is you can,' he added on Friday night. Maher then pointed to Musk's recent criticism of the administration, including his disappointment with Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' Trump said Thursday at the White House that he had a 'great' relationship with Musk, but that might not be the case anymore. The tech billionaire and former Department of Government Efficiency adviser then fired back, signaling he is open to forming a third party, backing calls for Trump to be impeached and accusing the president of being listed in the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump warned that he could opt to cut off Musk's companies' contracts with the federal government. 'So I think we call that a gettable voter, someone who's mulling a change,' Maher said of Musk. 'Maybe this will put quietest to the nonsense that Elon and Rogan too went to the dark side.' Ever since suffering heavy losses during the 2024 election cycle, Democrats are looking to rebuild their image, shore up their base and find ways to effectively counter Trump. The party is also looking for its next leader. Democrats have also expressed frustration about efforts to bring men into their coalition who, in November, backed Trump over former Vice President Harris. The GOP did a better of job of speaking to men during the race, particularly younger men, through mediums such as podcasts. 'They kicked our a‑‑es all over the place with these guys,' one top Democratic strategist told The Hill. 'They met male voters exactly where they were and we, on the other hand, had nothing comparable.' At least one House Democrat is open to wooing back Musk, who previously was a Democratic Party donor, into the party's tent. 'If Biden had a big supporter criticize him, Trump would have hugged him the next day. When we refused to meet with @RobertKennedyJr, Trump embraced him & won. We can be the party of sanctimonious lectures, or the party of FDR that knows how to win & build a progressive majority,' Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said in a Thursday post on social media platform X. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
This corny ‘conservative credit card' ad signals a very scary future for AI
A fresh glimpse at our AI-filled future arrived this week, in the form of an unmemorable ad by a company most people have never heard of. The ad is kind of flat and will probably scan as goofy to everyone outside its target demo, but don't write it off just yet: It could signal the beginning of some very big (and scary) changes. Why you're catching the 'ick' so easily, according to science Waymo is winning in San Francisco Supersonic air travel gets green light in U.S. after 50-year ban lifted The upstart fintech company Coign claims to be a 'conservative credit card company,' a distinction that boils down to the founders' pledge to never donate to liberal causes and candidates. And while that self-definition raises some questions, it pales in comparison to the actual ad. The 30-second clip is a patriotic parade of red-blooded, red-voting Americans boasting about recent Coign-fueled purchases such as deer-hunting gear, a stack of cartoonish gold bars, and the 'biggest American flag' available. But here's the most striking thing about the ad: All of those situations, and all of the actors, were created by AI. There's something a little off about Coign's ad, to be clear. The pacing of the phony satisfied customers' movements feels too jittery at times, and there's an eagle at the end that is not exactly natural looking. While the ad is spiritually the same AI slop as Shrimp Jesus, it doesn't carry the same overtly synthetic visuals. In that regard, it's a lot more casually AI-generated than many of its predecessor ads. When Coca-Cola released an AI-generated holiday spot last fall, it sparked an uproar. Creatives were livid about such a monumentally successful company neglecting to splash out on an all-human production, and even casual observers noticed the glaring flaws in the video: The truck's tires glided over the ground without spinning, Santa's hand was bizarrely out of proportion with the Coke bottle it gripped, and the entire ad sat squarely in the 'uncanny valley.' The same goes for the ad Toys R Us released last year using OpenAI's text-to-video tool Sora: The kindest thing one could say is that its human characters looked marginally more lifelike than the unsettling, motion-captured Tom Hanks from The Polar Express two decades earlier. So far, AI-generated ads have been rare enough and mostly the domain of heavy-hitter companies, making them lightning rods for attention and backlash just about every time a new one is released. The simple fact that they were AI-made has been enough to generate headlines, even before factoring in the slop. But maybe not for much longer. If the Coign ad is any indication, there may be an entire class of AI ads coming that will be subject to far less attention—and far less scrutiny. We're at a precarious moment with AI, collectively feeling out its least objectionable uses through trial and error. So far, uncanny ads from massive companies have triggered backlash, but when lesser-known brands dabble—especially without obvious visual glitches—they often escape notice. Advertising legend David Droga once noted the existence of a 'mediocre middle' in marketing and entertainment, and that may be exactly where AI quietly thrives: in ads from companies too small to spark outrage. Advertising, after all, is already the most disposable and least emotionally protected form of media—expensive to make, widely avoided, and largely unloved. That makes it the perfect Trojan horse for AI—slipping past scrutiny not because it's good, but because few people care enough to notice. On a moral and economic level, the advertising industry should not be diving headlong into a technology that makes large swaths of professional workers expendable. And on an aesthetic level, just because AI technically can create an ad doesn't mean it can create a good one. Once a seemingly harmless use case eases people's minds about a given technological breakthrough, it's only a matter of time before the more flagrantly objectionable use cases take hold. The facial recognition tech that first allowed Facebook users to tag their friends in photos was eventually used to strengthen the surveillance state and threaten privacy everywhere. Today's drones that make aerial photography easier become tomorrow's drones that mistakenly blow up weddings in other countries and threaten to displace delivery workers. Obviously, AI is going to play some role in humanity's future. The size of that role, however, is not yet set in stone. As machine learning creeps into all creative fields, workers need regulations to ensure the technology doesn't spread too far too fast. The good news is that a majority of Americans seem to want AI regulation. Although the House of Representatives recently passed a major tax and spending bill with a provision forbidding state governments to regulate AI over the next 10 years, that clause is getting bipartisan blowback. According to a recent poll, 81% of voters agree that 'advances in AI are exciting but also bring risks, and in such fast-moving times, we shouldn't force states to sit on the sidelines for a full decade.' Even the CEO of generative AI company Anthropic is a full-throated advocate for stricter AI regulation. The people have spoken. Whether they are listened to is another matter altogether. A single, silly credit card ad may seem an unlikely step toward a dystopian future of unfettered AI and full unemployment, but if we laugh it off now, the bill may still come due later. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
TikTok influencer slammed for viral video about ‘unchic' fashion
Tara Langdale talked to Fox News Digital about how she received hurtful messages from critics after a not-so-serious fashion post describing what she views as 'unchic' went viral, spawning a cascade of events that made her apolitical post a victim of attacks. The self-described stay-at-home working mom amassed some 250,000 views and found herself on the receiving end of some hate after an April 7 TikTok of her seated, drinking from a wine glass with nicely done hair, gold jewelry and manicured nails as she skimmed through a list of 'unchic' fashion sins. Advertisement Tattoos, Lululemon, baggy denim, camouflage and visible panty lines were just a few that made part one of Langdale's controversial 'unchic' list, which drew backlash from seething critics who called her out with a political twist. 'Voting for Trump is unchic,' one said. 'To her, privilege = chic. Hope this helps!' said another. A third said, 'just say you're a republican and go lmao,' while a slew of commenters took exception to her tattoo stance and ranted about classism. Advertisement The video even caught The Guardian's attention, prompting an article that coined 'chic' as 'a shorthand for a type of conservative-coded aesthetic' and spoke of the 'rigid and airbrushed' looks of Trump allies, sch as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 4 Tara Langdale received backlash for her 'unchic' fashion TikTok. @tara_langdale / TikTok Though Langdale diddles cribe herself as conservative when speaking to Fox News Digital, she insists not everything is about politics. 'When I get dressed in the morning, I'm not thinking about my political party and how I should dress to showcase that,' Langdale said. Advertisement 'I think conservativism is more of culture, religion – all of those things go into your conservativist mindset. Now, if you're talking about conservative style of dress… that's also going to be more like religion and culture,' she went on. 'Of course, if I'm going to church on Sunday, I'm dressing very conservative. I'm going to keep it classy, but if you see me in the street in my regular day-to-day, I am not at all conservative. I would never consider my style to be conservative. But am I conservative? Absolutely, so I can differentiate the two. I know that the internet has a hard time doing that.' 4 Lululemon made Langdale's controversial 'unchic' list — along with baggy denim, camouflage and visible panty lines. REUTERS 4 Tattoos were also on Langdale's list. xartproduction – Langdale addressed the politicized dogma, saying she doesn't understand why TikTok users jumped to conclusions about 'conservative' or 'Republican makeup' as they did. Advertisement 'Because I'm blonde, because I have more of a natural look about me, I'm not fully glammed all the time… I'm really not sure how that makes me appear conservative, but, again, I just think when people don't agree with what you say, they have to find a way to discredit you, and that's just an easy tactic,' she continued. At the same time, Langdale pushed back against the idea of her video implying that people too poor to afford expensive items are automatically 'unchic,' and pointed to brand-name items like athletic apparel brand Lululemon, Apple Watches and Golden Goose sneakers – all of which can be pricey – as evidence pointing to the contrary. 'Just keep in mind that money talks and wealth whispers, and I don't know any wealthy people that are wearing Gucci across their chest,' she said in her original post. Langdale explained that the TikTok trend of users showcasing 'things I find incredibly chic' grabbed her attention as they began circulating on the app. She found them 'pretentious and off-putting,' so she felt compelled to take her own stab at the video. 4 'When I get dressed in the morning, I'm not thinking about my political party and how I should dress to showcase that,' Langdale said about the political criticism she received. @tara_langdale / TikTok 'Of course, my video came off as pretentious and off-putting as well, but it felt like a certain level of cringe for me, and I don't like to personally attack anybody on social media, so I wouldn't go after a specific creator. I just kind of wanted to hop on the trend… so that was my initial, 'Why I created the video.'' Advertisement Langdale shared that her direct messages on the platform have been 'insane' with threats and comments about her family since the video went viral. 'It does make you step back and take a pause,' she shared. 'Like, is this really worth it for how crazy people react? And I would never want to put my family in danger, but I think a lot of it is just the keyboard pirates that are just back there behind their computer typing whatever they can to try to get more likes in the comments,' Langdale added.
