Richard Grenell, interim president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, said the institution is moving away from what he called "woke propaganda" that drained its finances and is replacing it with programming designed to appeal to broad audiences.
"We have never canceled a single show," Grenell told Newsmax's Jason Mattera in an interview from CPAC Paraguay on Friday. "What we have done is require shows to either fill enough seats to pay their bill, get a sponsor to make up the difference, or pay the bill themselves. We cannot have programming that loses money."
Grenell said that before President Donald Trump took office and control of the center, naming him as interim president, the facility was in a financial free fall.
"We were paying salaries with debt reserves," he said. "We didn't have any money in the bank. We're digging out, we're doing much better, and I've made some substantive changes to do it."
Grenell argued the shift away from overtly political programming is key to restoring the Kennedy Center's reputation and stability.
"We want to do big, beautiful, common-sense programming that attracts the crowds," he said. "Programming that people actually want to see. It's not a status thing."
Critics on the left have claimed his leadership is damaging the Kennedy Center's legacy, but Grenell said the real problem has been years of politically driven shows that never resonated with ordinary audiences.
"Arts institutions, including Broadway, are losing money. They're in terrible financial shape, and I think largely it's because you're not appealing to the masses on programming," he said.
"The truth is, people want uplifting shows that are part of our culture," Grenell said. "They don't want politics shoved down their throat. We don't want politics at the Kennedy Center — we want entertainment."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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