Kennedy Center Boss Claims CNN and WaPo Are Emailing Performers, ‘Encouraging’ Them to Boycott Shows

(Jacquelyn Martin | Credit: AP)

Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell baselessly accused major news organizations of actively encouraging artists to boycott performances in protest of the institution’s new Trump rebranding.

Grenell, who President Donald Trump installed earlier this year as part of a board shake-up, claimed without evidence on Tuesday that outlets, including CNN and The Washington Post, were urging booked performers to cancel shows in response to the center’s planned renaming as the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”

“I have just been informed by some booked artists that they are receiving emails from @CNN and @washingtonpost encouraging them to boycott the Trump Kennedy Center,” Grenell wrote on X. “The legacy media are left wing activists – and they are open about it.”

A day earlier, Grenell also accused The New York Times of “celebrating people boycotting the Arts.”

The accusations land amid a growing revolt from artists who say the center’s leadership has been politicized following Trump’s decision in February to appoint a slate of loyalists to the board, which then named Grenell chair. Earlier this month, the board claimed to have unanimously approved adding Trump’s name to the federally protected memorial.

Jazz supergroup The Cookers pulled out of two New Year’s Eve concerts on Monday, a week after drummer Chuck Redd also canceled a Christmas Eve concert, prompting Grenell to demand $1 million in damages and dismiss the move as a “political stunt.”