After the disbanding of several presidential advisory councils this week, today marked a mass resignation from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
First Lady Melania Trump is the honorary chair of the committee, which includes people like artist Chuck Close and actor Kal Penn.
Earlier today, Penn tweeted out the letter of resignation signed by most of the committee members and addressed to President Trump:
Dear @realDonaldTrump, attached is our letter of resignation from the President’s Committee on the Arts & the Humanities @PCAH_gov pic.twitter.com/eQI2HBTgXs
— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) August 18, 2017
The name of George C. Wolfe, the only member not listed there, was subsequently added.
“Reproach and censure in the strongest possible terms are necessary following your support of the hate groups and terrorists who killed and injured fellow Americans in Charlottesville,” the letter begins. “The false equivalencies you push cannot stand. The Administration’s refusal to quickly and unequivocally condemn the cancer of hatred only further emboldens those who wish America ill. We cannot sit idly by, the way that your West Wing advisors have, without speaking out against your words and actions.”
And as some have pointed out on Twitter, if you look at the first letter of every paragraph in the letter, it spells out “RESIST.” You can see an image of the letter below:
UPDATE –– 4:21 pm ET: The White House is saying in a statement now that they were planning on disbanding it anyway:
NEW: White House responds to @kalpenn and others resigning the arts commission, says Trump was going to disband it anyway: pic.twitter.com/9Xi2mzN7av
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) August 18, 2017
[image via screengrab]
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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
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