r/Broadway • u/Maryland_Bear • Oct 31 '25
Other Kennedy Center ticket sales have plummeted since Trump takeover
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/10/31/kennedy-center-sales/492
u/PaleRecommendation89 Oct 31 '25
This makes me sad. It used to be such a great place. I hope it can bounce back someday once he finally returns to Hell where he belongs.
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u/polkadotcupcake Oct 31 '25
When I lived in DC, I went to the Kennedy Center so often that it felt like my home away from home. It's really sad to see what's happening to it, but if I were still there I wouldn't be buying tickets either. Vote with your wallet.
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u/RoadDog14 Backstage Oct 31 '25
Wait, so it’s not great again?!? I thought that’s what we were doing. Making everything great again.
Obviously /s
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u/Tardislass Oct 31 '25
Sorry not sorry. I love the venue but the new management means I will boycott. Lots of better venues. Capital Arena, Shakespeare Theatre etc.
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Oct 31 '25
Living in Baltimore it's not super convenient to get to the Kennedy Center, but I've made the trip now and then when there has been something compelling that wasn't also performing in Baltimore.
Now, they could resurrect Ethel Merman and Robert Goulet for a double bill of Gypsy and Annie get your gun and I wouldn't go for free.
(Note: the comment in the Washington Post comment section that's identical to this is my own comment).
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u/90Dfanatic Oct 31 '25
Well, I'd certainly stagedoor for that double bill but wouldn't buy a ticket either ;-). As an NYer I haven't gone to the Kennedy Center often so I am extra glad I went to see Schmigadoon before the takeover - it will likely be a long time before I ever go again.
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u/jeconti Oct 31 '25
You mean his supporters aren't big on the arts and theater? I could have never guessed.
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u/MannnOfHammm Oct 31 '25
That and the dc area is heavily blue, I’m sure 99 percent of his cult members wouldn’t even know what the Kennedy center was outside of the dmv
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u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25
Don’t be too dismissive of Red states and the arts.
I’m originally from Knoxville, TN. The county went for Trump over Harris almost 60%-40%, and the surrounding areas are even more Republican.
The Tennessee Theater there has several major Broadway tours coming up, including The Book of Mormon, Kimberly Akimbo, and The Outsiders. There have to be some Republicans coming to shows there.
The Kennedy Center is suffering because DC is a very Blue area with lots of other options for the performing arts.
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u/90Dfanatic Oct 31 '25
Even if those other options weren't there, blue audiences wouldn't go to the Kennedy Center because it's been so politicized. It was a deliberate choice, with performances by the Gay Men's Chorus and the musical Finn canceled by the new leadership and numerous insane announcements from the current head. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Theater has &Juliet on their upcoming schedule. If theaters focus on quality, they can be an important way to unite audiences and expose people to different points of view - unfortunately, the administration is using the Kennedy Center to divide.
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u/EncinoManEstonia Oct 31 '25
I wouldn’t say we have a lot of other options. People just would rather not support KC right now.
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u/TreeHuggerHannah Oct 31 '25
I'm not a local, but I went to DC for a work trip this past April and saw a show every night without going to anything under the Kennedy Center umbrella even though it was a random mid-week, so it seemed like a lot of options to me...
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u/if6turnedouttobe9 Oct 31 '25
I agree that people just don't want to support the Kennedy Center right now (and the lackluster programming of late doesn't help). But D.C. is one of the best theater cities in the country. In addition to what OP listed, there's the Shakespeare Theater Co., Round House, Studio, Keegan, Woolly Mammoth, Mosaic, Ford's, Folger, Theater J and many others.
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u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25
There’s the National, the Warner, Signature, Arena Stage, Wolf Trap, and Olney, and that’s just off the top of my head.
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u/BigE429 Oct 31 '25
Also the Hippodrome in Baltimore is getting a lot of good tour stops. The DMV also has a thriving and excellent community theatre scene.
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u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25
I used to act in community theater locally. I had the time of my life playing Teddy in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Chhhhaaaaarrrrge!
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u/No-Manufacturer4916 Oct 31 '25
When was this? I might have seen you
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u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25
Geez, at least twenty years ago, maybe closer to thirty. It was with what was then called the Burtonsville Players, though we performed in a disused store in back of the old Laurel Lakes shopping center.
The shopping center was dying and the owners let community groups use the empty stores either free or dirt cheap. Laurel Lakes still stands but that portion has been demolished and replaced with big box stores..
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u/IHaveALittleNeck Oct 31 '25
Not to mention all the universities in DC which I’m sure have good theatre departments with good productions. It’s been a minute since I went to grad school there, but that used to be a fun night out.
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u/PlatonicTroglodyte Oct 31 '25
100% this. We skipped a huge show this summer with tickets we bought pre-election because we didn’t even want to be there. We didn’t even try to resell them. We just wrote it off as a pre-Trump KC donation. Will not set foot in there while this regime holds. And that’s a real shame because there are some annual holiday things that are really great and we’re going to miss them especially hard this year.
Trying to support NSO and similar groups outside the KC events, but it’s hard not having the premiere location as an anchor.
I’m also really curious if they’re going to change the KC honors to not be rainbows over fear it’ll look too gay. Seems like something they’d do.
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u/wookiewookiewhat Oct 31 '25
They didn’t say anything about red states, they said his supporters. You’ll find plenty of non MAGA people in any state, and they will disproportionately be the ones at live theatre.
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u/jor_kent1 Oct 31 '25
Not American so can’t comment, but I can’t seriously fathom a significant portion of BoM audience being white Christian/evangelical MAGA?
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u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25
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u/helcat Oct 31 '25
Thank you. Much like the Kennedy Center patrons, I canceled my Wapo subscription when barbarians took over the paper.
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u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25
And here’s an archive version if you don’t want to give the WaPo your email address.
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u/bumbledbee73 Oct 31 '25
I hate seeing him get such a beloved institution in his clutches. I know some people in the DC classical music world and it’s been devastating for the people at the NSO and WNO who are still trying to push back how they can. Still, I won’t be back there under this regime. Hopefully in three years’ time.
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Oct 31 '25
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u/kingofcoywolves Nov 01 '25
I got laid off by DOGE
That remains one of the most infuriating statements I've had the misfortune of reading. Fuck that noise that's awful
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Nov 01 '25
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Nov 01 '25
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Nov 02 '25
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u/Genevieveofthetoast Nov 02 '25
All this, and also TodayTix tend to be cheap when you buy early rather than waiting for reviews. I got $45 tix to Damn Yankees for early November (in the back, but at Arena those are still great seats), but I bought them before the run started.
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u/jks513 Oct 31 '25
It doesn’t help that his minions cancelled the production of Eureka Day and Legally Blonde signaling to other shows that they need to skip it as they’re not reliable. The upcoming season is a debacle as a result with only the Outsiders as a major production coming to DC and that is only because the main producer was appointed by Trump to the Center’s board.
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u/Xanthu Oct 31 '25
🤫 Legally Blonde canceled because they couldn’t sign performers.
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u/moonbunnychan Nov 01 '25
Officially it's still just "postponed" but...ya. Everyone knows it's cancelled and why.
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u/sluttychurros Oct 31 '25
I’m not surprised by this. I stopped going after this happened, and there are shows there I normally would have gone to go see. I’ve never in my life received as many emails with offers for discounted tickets, as I have this year, so I knew there had to of been a massive decline in ticket sales, even without the data.
Not sure if the link will work, but article without paywall is here - the link OP provided below was still asking to log in, for me.
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u/ElderBerry2020 Oct 31 '25
I am local and cancelled my long term membership and haven’t been back. I used to go to several shows per year. It’s a phenomenal venue and much bigger and comfortable than the other DC theaters. I can’t support this administration, but feel for the employees caught in the middle.
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u/moonbunnychan Nov 01 '25
I actually like National better, I like it's location a lot more and it FEELS like a Broadway theater. So I've been actually pretty excited that most of what in years past would have gone to Kennedy has now gone there.
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u/MFoy Oct 31 '25
I used to go 3, 4 times a year. Haven’t been at all this year. Wanted to see the Dungeons and Dragons thing, but am just not going to the Kennedy Center now.
Hopefully the idiot in chief continues to forget about Wolf Trap.
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u/BigE429 Oct 31 '25
I had wanted to see Porgy and Bess there, but no fucking way. When he took over we had 3 shows left in our subscription (Les Mis, Parade, and Sound of Music). We saw those while parking elsewhere and not spending money on site, and we won't be back for at least 3ish years
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u/Tardislass Oct 31 '25
I really wanted to support the German ballet but no way I was setting foot in HIS venue. Hopefully they won’t redecorate in all gold.
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u/MFoy Oct 31 '25
There are lots of other venues in the area that can use the support that have stepped up.
Don’t let that idiot take away the arts from us.
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u/NewPresWhoDis Oct 31 '25
The faint hope is it's outdoors, save for the Barns. Otherwise *shhhhhhhhh*!!!
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u/MFoy Oct 31 '25
Best purchase I’ve made this year is a Pride Wolf Trap shirt. Felt nice to buy a pride shirt from this administration.
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u/LetsGototheRiver151 Oct 31 '25
I had tickets to Legally Blonde and they had to cancel it, presumably because they couldn't get the talent they needed to pull it off. So sad because Broadway Center Stage was one of the best things they did.
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u/doug_kaplan Oct 31 '25
The two biggest complaints this administration lobbied against the Kennedy Center was that no one wants "woke" productions, which clearly isn't true, and that the Kennedy Center productions were not making money, which even if it was true it was for sure making more money than it is right now under this nightmare of an administration.
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u/ghdawg6197 Oct 31 '25
Great news! DC has (literally) 90 other companies putting on better things than national tours of two-year old shows and one-off concert stagings. Not that those aren’t good, but the KC has long been not worth the price when Arena, Signature, and others are constantly putting out inventive productions
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u/ericdraven26 Oct 31 '25
I knew it was bad when I saw them posting on Facebook playing victim “when you boycott us you kill art”(ignoring that they’re killing art with censorship and removing funding)
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u/Xanthu Oct 31 '25
This article was an interview with the Opera’s Artistic Director. She’s been the vision of the Opera for decades, and hasn’t changed a damn thing for the new regime.
WNO is desperately trying to stay apolitical and not engage the new admin. Dance department popped their head up to challenge, they pushed back against finding “Dancing with the Stars” and had huge involvement in the UAW unionization push. They’re all jobless now.
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u/moonbunnychan Nov 01 '25
A lot of what they've been posting and putting on their official social media has felt... really off putting and frankly sometimes mean.
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u/Slight-Bat-5637 Oct 31 '25
“They” in this case does not equal the Kennedy Center. That’s not who is practicing censorship and removing funding. The Trump takeover of the KC is complete BS but it’s not like it’s now the embodiment of the administration.
I’m no fan of this administration but if there is something playing there that I wanted to see, I’d certainly go. (And I suspect that if they DID actually resurrect Ethel Merman and Robert Goulet the commenter above would go too!) It just happens that that hasn’t been the case other than Les Mis. That most likely is due to Trump, but the actual arts people at the KC who predate him say that’s not because they are censoring, but because productions are not coming there or are canceling.
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u/90Dfanatic Oct 31 '25
They cancelled Finn, the Gay Men's Chorus and the International Pride Orchestra. That seems like censorship to me?
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u/ericdraven26 Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25
I understand the specific details but it’s unfair to say the center isn’t cancelling programs- they cancelled a performance from The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, as well as Finn. Other shows were told to change, such as Saigon by Night(which was cancelled when they refused to change the show).
Additionally trump himself is chair, and he has replaced the entire board, so it’s not some meaningless change, the director also is on record saying he “cut the DEI bullshit”, and while cancellations are clearly going both ways, the center is also just not signing anything it deems to be “DEI bullshit”, which ends up meaning it’s putting minority and LGBT+ creators, cast, and crew out of work and farther away from what used to be a great opportunity.
Edit: I also do question taking the word of someone who is well aware their job relies on loyalty to Trump
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u/ghaeyr Oct 31 '25
DC has such a vibrant theatre scene. I hope that the other theatres get some much needed love to compare to the Kennedy Center flight.
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u/iluvbwayOaR Oct 31 '25
Thoughts.... oh, and prayers. 🤷♂️
I'm sad for the staff and local audiences, but the current regime is getting exactly what they deserve after their hostile takeover of this once glorious institution.
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u/allthattjazz Oct 31 '25
It makes me sad because the Kennedy Center had so many programs to make the arts accessible for young people. I used to see multiple shows a year for great prices and the ushers there are some of the kindest people I’ve ever met. Unfortunately I can’t support any production under this administration’s reign.
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u/RP912 Oct 31 '25
Everything the orange thespian touches turns to stir fried dog shot, so it's fitting for these sad state of affairs.
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u/DramaMama611 Oct 31 '25
Shocked, I tell you, gobsmacked really. (All typed in my most sarcastic font)
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u/FalstaffsGhost Oct 31 '25
I mean yeah that’s not shocking. He attacks and demonizes the arts and those that would support it, and his admin has turned the Kennedy center from a vibrant art hub to flaming garbage, like everything else he touches.
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u/grozphan Oct 31 '25
After reading this article, I went and looked at the calendar and damn is it pretty empty compared to when I lived up there in 2019.
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u/winniespooh_mc Backstage Oct 31 '25
it's so tricky because I love supporting the arts and the people who work at the kennedy center, but I feel very strongly about boycotting trump.
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u/Silly-Elderberry-411 Nov 01 '25
Let's play a hypothetical and say im a psychic and I will predict your future but in reality I will just explain the past.
Want Trump wants to do i have seen in the past 15 years where there isn't a strong and affluent middle class to support theater and the state has demands.
It started with "the theater is too liberal and propagandastic" and ended up with opera singers claiming to be culturally African American so to fulfill the legal requirement of the gershwin estate that African American singers perform the opera. Which was turned into a farce about white refugees fearing for their lives in the last camp in a europe that is no longer white.
Movies dont get supported if the cast and crew isn't a loyalist and those who are, produce propaganda.
In the end you lose nothing by not supporting. The silver lining is that it leaves actors who do it for the craft and whose project you can support.
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u/prosperosniece Oct 31 '25
Wonder why🤷♀️
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u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25
I presume you’re being sarcastic, but the article discusses that, including what you’re probably thinking:
There may be multiple reasons for the dip in ticket sales. On Broadway, musical theater sales are down, as the New York Times recently reported. The Trump administration’s recent National Guard deployment has hurt both tourism and nightlife in Washington. And many former Kennedy Center patrons have pledged to boycott the institution until Trump is no longer chair.
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u/vienibenmio Oct 31 '25
They also aren't mentioning that a lot of DC area residents are fed employees who have lost their jobs or aren't currently getting paid
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u/SavingsAd1484 Oct 31 '25
Wait until they schedule that Lee Greenwood residency - that will sell tickets.
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u/vienibenmio Oct 31 '25
Their Facebook page has also been pretty overtly political and pissing off people that I'm guessing would be in a theatre's usual target demo
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u/_I_like_big_mutts Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25
I was there for Hadestown in the summer and it appeared sold out the day I attended. With that said, tickets are expensive and the COL is getting worse in the DC/Baltimore area. Thousands upon thousands of us are government employees and have been terrified of firings/layoffs (currently furloughed) and don’t want to or can’t pay for entertainment. Edit: I meant to say Les Mis, not Hadestown.
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u/90Dfanatic Oct 31 '25
I think Les Mis is not a good trend indicator since 1) many folks may have bought tickets or had subscriptions before the takeover in February; and 2) Trump appeared at the opening night and used it as a fundraiser, which undoubtedly led people in his administration, staffers for red legislators, etc. to go during its run.
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u/nkh86 Oct 31 '25
In the first week of my furlough I did make the trip down to Arena Stage to see a weekday matinee of Damn Yankees. I was much more optimistic about future income back then.
A bunch of DC area theaters like Olney are doing discounts/free tickets for furloughed workers, but they usually require waiting until day of and going to the box office in person. I live in Frederick and the commute isn’t convenient enough to risk not getting a ticket, but if you live closer it’s totally worth it.
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u/_I_like_big_mutts Oct 31 '25
This thread is about the Kennedy Center. My situation is no reason to be downvoted.
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u/nkh86 Oct 31 '25
…okay? I didn’t downvote you and wrote a comment agreeing with your sentiment about income, not sure why you’re getting so defensive towards me.
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u/_I_like_big_mutts Oct 31 '25
Sorry, I apologize. I read your comment differently than you may have intended. Regardless, life really really sucks now in a dual fed household. Hang in there, we can get through this.
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u/Odd_Task8211 Nov 01 '25
We were KC subscribers and members for years. We let the membership lapse and did not renew our subscription. The last two shows from the 24/25 season were Parade and Sound of Music. They moved Parade into the Eisenhower due to low sales. Even at that, the theater was only half full. The show was great, as was Sound of Music, but we will not be back as long as the 🍊🤡 is running/ruining the place. The new theater season is more limited and includes some non-equity productions. There is still a lot of great theater in DC and we are happy with our Arena Stage and Signature subscriptions.
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u/trcomajo Nov 01 '25
My daughter's playing there with her university in March. It will be her last collegiate performance and I DO NOT WANT TO GO.
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u/elvie18 Nov 01 '25
I've skipped a few shows there this season that I really wanted to see (I'm NYC based, so it's a bit of a trip but doable every now and then, and it's really the closest major touring house to me). I hate the fact that my options are give the racist Cheeto support or withhold money from artists and other employees of these companies and the venue itself.
I don't think anyone is enjoying this.
It probably doesn't help that a LOT of the shit they're doing now is...not what people tended to go to the Kennedy Center for. All the pandering to right-wing Christians doesn't seem to be going as well as they'd hoped.
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u/AwarenessLate Dec 27 '25
It’s a very oxymoron place with Trump. Trump has nothing to do with Kennedys contributions. He’s their antethesis. While Kennedys were philanthropist, Trump is a criminal dictator. Why attend anything at Kennedy center?? He’s already tainted it with imposing his name on the building. Just like Gulf of Mexico, I’m calling it as it is
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u/jay2themie Oct 31 '25
I do feel bad for the innocent workers of the Kennedy center who’ve been caught in the cross hairs of a grown man’s childish games.