Latest news with #LGBT-themed
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Supreme Court Looks Eager to Further Undermine Public Schools
The Supreme Court signaled on Tuesday that it would side with a group of religious parents who oppose a Maryland school district's use of LGBT-themed children's books in its reading curriculum. Most of the justices in the court's conservative majority reacted with varying levels of disdain to the idea of requiring students to be exposed to such books and seemed eager to expand religious parents' ability to opt their children out of public school curriculums in general. Justice Samuel Alito referred at one point to one book where the protagonist's uncle marries another man. A lawyer representing the Montgomery County School District said the book was not coercive toward students' religious beliefs but simply recognized that same-sex marriages exist. 'I think it clearly goes beyond that,' Alito replied. 'It doesn't just say that Uncle Bobby and Jamie are getting married. It expresses the idea subtly, but it expresses the idea that this is a good thing.' Tuesday's oral arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor did not establish clearly where and how the court will draw the line when allowing parents to opt out from certain lessons. At minimum, the court's conservative justices gave few indications that they would tread lightly on public schools' ability to feature LGBT-inclusive themes in their curriculum. That could, in turn, make it logistically difficult for schools to include them at all. In 2022, the Montgomery County School District, located just outside of Washington, D.C., updated its English curriculum to address concerns that the existing materials 'did not fully reflect the diversity of [Montgomery County Public Schools] families.' After a lengthy review process involving educators, parents, and administrators, the district added five storybooks to its curriculum that involve LGBT themes. One includes a prince who fights a dragon and falls in love with a male knight; another features a child named Penelope who decides that he is a boy. The district noted in its brief for the court that the stories are not that different from other traditional storybooks 'such as retellings of Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Goldilocks.' The books are considered to be at an appropriate reading level for pre-K students through fifth graders. The school initially allowed parents to opt out of the lessons where the books would be included. That became unworkable when significant numbers of students and parents declined to include their students, some for religious reasons and some for non-religious reasons. Midway through the 2022–23 school year, the district ended the policy because of the logistical hurdles it caused for teachers and administrators. A group of Christian and Muslim parents immediately sued to have it restored. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their motion for a preliminary injunction last year, noting that the parents 'do not show anything at this point about the Board's decision that affects what they teach their own children.' In its ruling, the three-judge panel emphasized the 'threadbare' nature of the record before them. None of the materials filed by the parties, it said, had any details 'about how any teacher or school employee has actually used any of the storybooks in the parents' children's classrooms, how often the storybooks are actually being used, what any child has been taught in conjunction with their use, or what conversations have ensued about their themes.' The panel noted, however, that there was also no evidence 'that the parents or their children have in fact been asked to affirm views contrary to their own views on gender or sexuality, to disavow views on these matters that their religion espouses, or otherwise affirmatively act in violation of their religious beliefs.' It also noted that the district's assistant superintendent had said that 'no student or adult is asked to change how they feel about these issues.' As a result, the panel voted 2–1 to deny an injunction. That defeat prompted the parents to turn to the Supreme Court. 'The question here is whether that right is infringed when a public school compels elementary schoolchildren as young as three to participate in instruction on gender and sexuality in violation of their parents' religious beliefs—without notifying their parents or allowing them to opt out,' the plaintiffs claimed in their brief for the court. 'To ask that question is to answer it.' They pointed to the 1972 case Wisconsin v. Yoder, which they read to recognize a First Amendment right to 'substantially interfere with their religious development.' Alan Schoenfeld, who argued for the school district, urged the justices not to embrace the plaintiffs' far-reaching theory. He noted that Yoder dealt with a much different set of circumstances: namely, a group of Amish families who wanted to withdraw their students from public schools after eighth grade and continue their education through vocational work at home. 'Adopting [their] view of the case would conscript courts into playing the role of school board, a task for which this court has recognized they are ill suited,' he said in his opening remarks. 'And a constitutional requirement to provide opt-outs from anything someone finds religiously offensive would mean public schools must find alternative classrooms, supervision for young students, and substitute lessons each time a potentially offensive topic arises.' The court's conservative members did not blanch at that prospect. 'I guess I am a bit mystified as a lifelong resident of the county how it came to this,' Kavanaugh remarked at one point during Baxter's argument. He suggested broadening the court's legal test from whether the school district's actions amounted to 'coercion,' which would be a tall order in this case, to whether the actions amounted to a 'burden' on the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights, which would be a much lower threshold for these plaintiffs to meet. Kavanaugh also suggested that the court had a duty of sorts to intervene. Schoenfeld noted offhand that the Montgomery County School Board was 'democratically elected,' which the justice apparently interpreted as a dig against the court. 'You've mentioned a few times that the school board was democratically elected and being on the school board is a hard job,' he commented. 'We all respect that. But that can't be the end of it, right? We're here to protect liberty and the Constitution from the democratic excess.' Finally, Kavanaugh framed the issue as one of 'religious liberty' that stretched back to Maryland's founding in the colonial era. 'Maryland was founded on religious liberty and religious tolerance, a haven for Catholics escaping persecution in England going back to 1649,' he noted at one point. Kavanaugh then described Montgomery County as a 'beacon of that religious liberty for all these years' and told Schoenfeld that he was 'surprised' that 'this is the hill we're going to die on, in terms of not respecting religious liberty, given that history.' Some of the questions appeared to be driven by conservative media hyperbole rather than the factual record. Justice Neil Gorsuch asked at one point about a since-withdrawn book that featured a woman with purple hair wearing a leather jacket. 'That's the one where they are supposed to look for the leather and bondage, things like that, right?' he asked Schoenfeld. 'It's not bondage,' Schoenfeld quickly replied. 'A sex worker?' Gorsuch continued. 'It's a woman in a leather jacket,' the lawyer insisted. The only justice more hostile to the school district than Kavanaugh was Alito, who appeared to take personal offense to the idea that a Maryland school would feature LGBT-inclusive books in its curriculum. 'So suppose a school says we're going to talk about same-sex marriage, and same-sex marriage is legal in Maryland, and it's a good thing, it's moral, it makes people happy, same-sex couples form good families, they raise children,' he said at one point, with a faint undertone of sarcasm. 'Now, there are those who disagree with that,' he continued. 'Catholics, for example, they disagree with that. They think that it's not moral, but they're wrong and they're bad and anybody who doesn't accept that same-sex marriage is normal and just as good as opposite-sex marriage is not a good person.' What if the school teaches that to students, he asked Schoenfeld, who agreed that it would be coercive. Alito also aired some grievances toward the Supreme Court bar in general, hinting that they were elitist and out of touch. 'You've got to send your children to school,' Alito snarked at one point. 'You can't afford to send them to any place except the public school, unlike, you know, most of the lawyers who argue cases here. They can send their children to private schools, and they think that that's the way most of the world is. But it's not. It's just too bad.' The court's three liberal justices, who were clearly outgunned, tried instead to find limiting principles to the plaintiffs' arguments. Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked about the line between when exposure to a fact or idea becomes coercive or violates one's religious beliefs. 'Is looking at two men getting married, is that the religious objection?' she asked Eric Baxter, who represented the plaintiffs. 'Again, it would depend on the individual beliefs of the clients,' he replied. 'For example, many parents would object to their child being exposed to something like pornography or extreme violence.' That answer drew a subtle rebuke from Sotomayor. 'We're not going to go there, counsel,' she warned, before re-asking her question. 'Our objections would be even to reading books that violate our clients' religious beliefs,' Baxter said. That may sound defensible in theory but would be nightmarish in practice. A friend-of-the-court brief filed by the National Education Association noted that navigating an expansive rule for opt-outs would have highly disruptive effects for educators and administrators as they try to develop a curriculum for students in a pluralistic American society. The organization also warned that it could have a divisive and harmful effect on other students. 'Consider, for example, how a student with same-sex married parents might react when told that references to the mere existence of families like his are so objectionable that several of his fellow classmates must leave the room,' the organization told the court. 'Or how a Jewish student might feel when she is required to bring home a note alerting parents that lessons on her religious heritage could be offensive and offering alternative learning arrangements for the children of objecting parents.' A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would be in keeping with the Roberts court's general approach to religious freedom cases, where it tends to be highly sensitive to claims and sharply hostile to government organizations on the other side. Tuesday's oral arguments did not give a clear impression of where the justices will draw the line. A decision is likely to come by the end of June when the court's term traditionally ends. That would give parents and educators at least the rest of the summer break, at minimum, to wrestle with the fallout.
Russia Today
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Russia Today
Hollywood's woke blackout: Studios ditch Pride to cash in on conservative America
The conservative winds that have swept across America since January 20, 2025 have reached all the way to California. Hollywood, once the global capital of progressive values, is rapidly turning its back on the previous narrative. Transgender characters are quietly being cut from scripts, LGBT-themed productions shelved, and studios are shifting toward content with Christian and family-oriented values. Entire projects have been dropped. Others are being rewritten on the fly to avoid positive portrayals of LGBT characters. Just a year ago, such a reversal seemed unthinkable. Hollywood, which had long been synonymous with 'woke' ideology, appeared firmly entrenched in its liberal agenda. Anti-Trump themes were being churned out with near industrial efficiency, and conservative attempts at counter-programming lacked the budget or reach to compete. In the cultural trenches, liberals were not just winning, they were dominating. But now, studios are backing off. The liberal press, already ringing alarm bells, has pinned the blame squarely on Donald Trump. In this rare case, they might have a point. Following his re-election, President Trump wasted no time in asserting ideological control. He signed executive orders recognizing only two genders, reinstated the ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, and scrapped federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) guidelines. In the cultural sphere, he made a bold appointment: Brendan Carr, a staunch Trump supporter and co-architect of the 'Project 2025' conservative reform blueprint, was named chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC might seem bureaucratic, but under Carr, it has become a powerful cultural weapon. Investigations were quickly launched into media outlets seen as hostile to Trump. Disney, one of the most vocal progressive corporations, was accused of violating equal opportunity laws through its DEI policies. After making some adjustments, Disney still found itself under pressure, with Carr even threatening to revoke ABC's broadcasting license. The result? Rapid, widespread self-censorship. Studios aren't backpedaling because they've had a change of heart, they simply don't want to attract the regulatory wrath of Washington. Amazon, led by Jeff Bezos, was ahead of the curve. Bezos cultivated ties with the Trump camp, quietly axed DEI advisors, and began investing only in 'safe' content. The reward? Government scrutiny vanished. Still, it would be unfair to credit Trump alone for Hollywood's pivot. The shift had begun before the 2024 election, driven by cold economic realities. The traditional business model of cable TV is collapsing. Streaming services, flooded with progressive content, have failed to turn a profit. Worse, many of those 'inclusive' productions have sparked controversy, underperformed at the box office, and alienated large swathes of the audience. Family-oriented and religious films, by contrast, often require modest budgets and cater to a mainstream audience. Conservative content, it turns out, is not just safer – it's more profitable. There's also the matter of public fatigue. Americans are tired of being lectured. Box office returns, streaming numbers, and network ratings all tell the same story. Once-dominant liberal cable channels are in freefall. As of December 2024, CNN and MSNBC had lost half their prime-time audiences, plunging to 30-year lows. Fox News, meanwhile, is thriving. So are conservative-leaning podcasters like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, now the dominant voices in America's 'new media' landscape. None of this is a coincidence. The broader cultural and economic environment in the United States has shifted. Hollywood's liberal monopoly was unsustainable, both financially and ideologically. Trump's return to power merely accelerated a transformation already underway. Will this rightward turn change the face of global culture? Almost certainly. Will it return Hollywood to its former glory? Time will tell. But what is already clear is that the old narrative is dead – and the new one is being written with a red article was first published by the online newspaper and was translated and edited by the RT team
Russia Today
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Russia Today
Woke blackout in Tinseltown: Hollywood dumps Pride to cash in on America's great conservative comeback
The conservative winds that have swept across America since January 20, 2025 have reached all the way to California. Hollywood, once the global capital of progressive values, is rapidly turning its back on the previous narrative. Transgender characters are quietly being cut from scripts, LGBT-themed productions shelved, and studios are shifting toward content with Christian and family-oriented values. Entire projects have been dropped. Others are being rewritten on the fly to avoid positive portrayals of LGBT characters. Just a year ago, such a reversal seemed unthinkable. Hollywood, which had long been synonymous with 'woke' ideology, appeared firmly entrenched in its liberal agenda. Anti-Trump themes were being churned out with near industrial efficiency, and conservative attempts at counter-programming lacked the budget or reach to compete. In the cultural trenches, liberals were not just winning, they were dominating. But now, studios are backing off. The liberal press, already ringing alarm bells, has pinned the blame squarely on Donald Trump. In this rare case, they might have a point. Following his re-election, President Trump wasted no time in asserting ideological control. He signed executive orders recognizing only two genders, reinstated the ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, and scrapped federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) guidelines. In the cultural sphere, he made a bold appointment: Brendan Carr, a staunch Trump supporter and co-architect of the 'Project 2025' conservative reform blueprint, was named chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC might seem bureaucratic, but under Carr, it has become a powerful cultural weapon. Investigations were quickly launched into media outlets seen as hostile to Trump. Disney, one of the most vocal progressive corporations, was accused of violating equal opportunity laws through its DEI policies. After making some adjustments, Disney still found itself under pressure, with Carr even threatening to revoke ABC's broadcasting license. The result? Rapid, widespread self-censorship. Studios aren't backpedaling because they've had a change of heart, they simply don't want to attract the regulatory wrath of Washington. Amazon, led by Jeff Bezos, was ahead of the curve. Bezos cultivated ties with the Trump camp, quietly axed DEI advisors, and began investing only in 'safe' content. The reward? Government scrutiny vanished. Still, it would be unfair to credit Trump alone for Hollywood's pivot. The shift had begun before the 2024 election, driven by cold economic realities. The traditional business model of cable TV is collapsing. Streaming services, flooded with progressive content, have failed to turn a profit. Worse, many of those 'inclusive' productions have sparked controversy, underperformed at the box office, and alienated large swathes of the audience. Family-oriented and religious films, by contrast, often require modest budgets and cater to a mainstream audience. Conservative content, it turns out, is not just safer – it's more profitable. There's also the matter of public fatigue. Americans are tired of being lectured. Box office returns, streaming numbers, and network ratings all tell the same story. Once-dominant liberal cable channels are in freefall. As of December 2024, CNN and MSNBC had lost half their prime-time audiences, plunging to 30-year lows. Fox News, meanwhile, is thriving. So are conservative-leaning podcasters like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, now the dominant voices in America's 'new media' landscape. None of this is a coincidence. The broader cultural and economic environment in the United States has shifted. Hollywood's liberal monopoly was unsustainable, both financially and ideologically. Trump's return to power merely accelerated a transformation already underway. Will this rightward turn change the face of global culture? Almost certainly. Will it return Hollywood to its former glory? Time will tell. But what is already clear is that the old narrative is dead – and the new one is being written with a red article was first published by the online newspaper and was translated and edited by the RT team
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
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 article source: Kennedy Center shake-up will usher in 'Golden Age of the Arts' under Trump, Ric Grenell previews
Fox News
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
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. 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. 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. "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. "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.
