By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Monday that special U.S. envoy Richard Grenell will serve as the interim executive director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington after announcing plans on Friday to shake up its board.
Trump on Friday said he was terminating multiple individuals from the center’s board of trustees, including chairman David Rubenstein.
Trump named himself chairman and said he will soon announce a new board for the Kennedy Center, which he knocked for having featured “Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth.”
“NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST. RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!” Trump said on social media on Monday while naming Grenell for the role.
The Kennedy Center, which receives federal funding, is one of the nation’s leading arts facilities and has long enjoyed bipartisan support and national renown. Presidents appoint members of its board of trustees.
Since taking office last month, Trump, a Republican, has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants and top officials at agencies in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
During his first term in office, Trump declined to attend the annual Kennedy Center Honors, considered the top award for achievement in the arts. In December, at the last show attended by former President Joe Biden, the center’s leaders made clear Trump was welcome to come in the future.
Grenell recently went to Venezuela as Trump’s envoy for special missions and returned to the U.S. after having secured the release of six Americans.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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