President Donald Trump has appointed two Fox News Channel (FNC) hosts to serve on the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“I am thrilled to announce that Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo will be joining our Kennedy Center Board - This completes our selection. We look forward to restoring the Center to Greatness, and ushering in America’s Golden Age. Together, we will Make the Arts Great Again!,” Trump posted Friday evening on his Truth Social platform.
Bartiromo is the host of "Mornings with Maria" on Fox Business Network and Ingraham is the namesake of "The Ingraham Angle" on FNC.
The move comes amidst the high-profile backlash to the administration's reworking of the long-standing cultural center. On Wednesday, producers for the Broadway musical “Hamilton” pulled next year’s run citing the “new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.” Producer Jeffrey Seller noted that Hamilton performed at the Kennedy Center during the first Trump administration in 2018, and the decision to pull the 2026 performances was “against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent take over.”
“Hamilton” was not the only show to be pulled over the last month. NBC4 out of Washington DC listed 26 performances that have been cancelled since the Trump administration announced its intentions with the venue. Almost all of the shows listed were noted as “cancelled by artist” and not for financial or other concerns.
In February Trump removed the 18 board members and named himself chairman saying the board did not share the administration’s “vision for a golden age in arts and culture” and noted a performance last year featuring a drag show aimed at children. “I’m going to be chairman of it, and we’re going to make sure that it’s good and it’s not going to be woke. There’s no more woke in this country,” he said. “Woke has cost us a fortune and cost us our reputation, but the reputation is coming back very, very rapidly.”
The Kennedy Center lists former first ladies Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Jill Biden and current first lady Melania Trump as honorary chairs. Ric Grennell, the president’s Envoy for Special Missions also serves as president of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees.