President Donald J. Trump has named Richard Grenell to the position of Interim Executive Director of the Kennedy Center.
Trump announced the news via social media and said, “I am pleased to announce that Ric Grenell will serve as the Interim Executive Director of The Kennedy Center. Ric shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST. RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!”
Grenell, who was the first openly gay person as a spokesperson for a Republican presidential candidate in 2012, is a Trump Loyalist who was named presidential envoy in for special missions, a post that his confirmation would establish. Grenell’s first assignment in this role was to oversee the administration’s response to the 2025 California Wildfires and in January 2025, Grenell travelled to Caracas, Venezuela to meet with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro to allegedly discuss Trump’s deportation strategy for accepting undocumented immigrants. In Trump’s previous administration, he was Director of National Intelligence. He has no experience in the arts world but was senior advisor to the Republican National Committee, focusing on outreach to LGBT voters. He also helped push the effort to overturn the presidential election Donald Trump lost in Las Vegas.
Grenell will take over for Deborah Rutter who resigned last month after serving as President of the Kennedy Center since 2014. She noted, “After more than 10 extraordinary years in Washington, D.C., collaborating with some of the most phenomenal artists, cultural leaders, diplomats, philanthropists, volunteers, and administrators, I have come to believe it is time to pass the torch. It has been a great honor to work with the best in the world. It is time now to hand this truly unique institution to a new leader who will take the power and majesty of the arts to the next level.”
Grenell’s news also comes after Trump installed himself as Chairman of the Board of the Kennedy Center and terminated some board members. He said, “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. We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!”
The move has taken the music world aback and the Kennedy Center was surprised noting, “We have received no official communications from the White House regarding changes to our board of trustees. We are aware that some members of our board have received termination notices from the administration.”
Trump has also admitted that he does not attend the Kennedy Center because the performances are “so bad, that I didn’t want to…I didn’t want to go. There is nothing I wanted to see.”
I am pleased to announce that Ric Grenell will serve as the Interim Executive Director of The Kennedy Center. Ric shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 10, 2025
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