Kennedy Center Patrons Outraged After Trump’s Takeover as Chairman: ‘Beyond Upsetting’

“Trump doesn’t care about the arts. He cares about power,” one social media user says

The John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts (Credit: J. David Ake/Getty Images)
The John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts (Credit: J. David Ake/Getty Images)

After a Trump-appointed board “unanimously” elected the president to be chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the arts community online was quick to criticize the president, who to this point has never attended an event at the premiere theater venue.

President Donald Trump replaced billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein as the chair of the Kennedy Center, long held as one of the leading bipartisan arts organizations in the United States. The 47th president also fired Deborah Rutter after she served the organization for 11 years.

Following Trump’s appointment as chairman, board member Shonda Rhimes, who served as treasurer, announced her resignation, and singer-songwriter Ben Folds resigned as artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center’s National Symphony Orchestra (NSO).

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