“Hamilton” Canceled at Kennedy Center Amid Trump Takeover!
President Trump’s controversial takeover of the Kennedy Center has led to the cancellation of the highly anticipated run of Hamilton next year.
Producer Jeffrey Seller announced Wednesday that the show was pulling out, citing Trump’s “purge” of staff and performances as a betrayal of the center’s cultural mission.
“Our show cannot, in good conscience, participate in this new culture being imposed on the Kennedy Center,” Seller stated.
While Hamilton previously played at the venue in 2018 during Trump’s first term, Seller clarified that the decision was not about opposing the administration itself but rather the “partisan policies” now shaping the Kennedy Center.
The hit musical was set to run next spring as part of the venue’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda told The New York Times that Trump’s takeover has fundamentally changed the institution, saying, “It’s not the Kennedy Center as we knew it.”
Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda are cutting ties with the Kennedy Center, declaring they won’t perform at the venue under Trump’s control.
“The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center,” Miranda told The New York Times.
Seller called the situation “untenable,” saying the institution has become “so deeply politicized” that it no longer represents all Americans. “They took it over and changed that. They said it’s just for Donald Trump and his crowd. So we made a decision—we can’t do it,” he said.
Hamilton is the latest in a growing list of artists distancing themselves from the Kennedy Center following Trump’s takeover, which saw longtime president Deborah Rutter ousted and replaced with Trump ally Richard Grenell.
Grenell fired back on X, accusing Seller and Miranda of going to the press before notifying the Kennedy Center. “The American people need to know that @Lin_Manuel is intolerant of people who don’t agree with him politically,” he wrote.
Despite Grenell’s criticism, the Trump administration has openly framed its control of the Kennedy Center as a fight against “wokeness,” cementing its shift from a historically bipartisan cultural institution to a political battleground.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com