Kennedy Center’s Ric Grenell Blasts ‘Hamilton’ Musical’s ‘Publicity Stunt,’ Says It Will ‘Backfire’

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The runaway Broadway success of the “Hamilton” musical has given the show and its stars a bully pulpit from which to weigh in on American politics.

But when lead producer Jeffrey Seller announced this week that the production would not be continuing its run at the Kennedy Center due to President Donald Trump’s recent overhaul of the institution, he learned that not everyone is on board with the decision.

Richard Grenell, named interim director of the center last month after Trump appointed himself to be its chair, had some tough words for Seller and the show, as The Hill reported:

Grennell hammered Seller and show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, saying they orchestrated a “publicity stunt,” and arguing the pair do not want Republican Party voters attending their show.

“Seller and @Lin_Manuel first went to the New York Times before they came to the Kennedy Center with their announcement that they can’t be in the same room with Republicans,” Grenell said Wednesday on the social platform X. “This is a publicity stunt that will backfire. The Arts are for everyone – not just for the people who Lin likes and agrees with.”

“The American people need to know that @Lin_Manuel is intolerant of people who don’t agree with him politically. It’s clear he and Sellers don’t want Republicans going to their shows,” added Grenell, a former ambassador to Germany.

The show was played at the center in 2018, during Trump’s first term, and in 2022, during former President Biden’s term.

Seller said the “neutrality” of the Kennedy Center has been “destroyed,” and the recent “purge” of the professional staff and performing arts events “flies in the face of everything this natural cultural center represents.”

He said the cancellation is also a “business decision.”

A number of social media users expressed their opposition to the move:

As the New York Post pointed out last month, a series of entertainers distanced themselves from the Kennedy Center in the wake of Trump’s announcement:

“Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes and singer-songwriter Ben Folds are among the first to flee their positions at the Kennedy Center after President Trump installed himself as chairman of the board and started to clean house.

The Shondaland CEO, 55, resigned as treasurer of the board on Wednesday shortly after Trump was elected head of DC’s iconic John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she confirmed in a post on Instagram.

Folds also announced that he’d quit his role as artistic adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra, a position he had held since he was appointed in 2017.

“Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as artistic advisor to the NSO,” the Ben Folds Five frontman, 58, posted on social media.

“Not for me,” he added. “Mostly, and above all, I will miss the musicians of our nation’s symphony orchestra — just the best.”

Grammy Award-winning opera legend Renée Fleming followed suit, announcing her resignation from her role as artistic adviser at large.

Here’s some additional coverage of Trump’s Kennedy Center makeover:



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