Ric Grenell Can't Believe The Price Of His Love's Not A Price 'Hamilton's' Willing To Pay
Oceans rise, empires fall, a lot of artists won't be answering his call
Last month, Donald Trump announced that he and his pals would be taking over the Kennedy Center and purging it of wokeness — that only acts that they liked would be allowed to perform there.
“We took over the Kennedy Center. We didn’t like what they were showing and various other things,” he explained. “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.’”
As a result, many artists have decided that they will no longer have anything to do with the Kennedy Center, including Lin Manuel Miranda, who recently canceled upcoming performances of Hamilton that was scheduled for a run later this month.
In a statement posted to social media on Wednesday, producer Jeffrey Sellers explained:
[I]n recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed. The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents. This spirit of nonpartisanship ended on February 7, 2025, with the firing of Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, the Chairman of the Board David Rubenstein, and numerous other Kennedy Center board members, as well as the cancellation of important programming. These actions bring a new spirit of partisanship to the national treasure that is the Kennedy Center.
Given these recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center. Therefore, we have cancelled the third engagement of Hamilton at the Kennedy Center, originally scheduled for March 3-April 26, 2026.
Hamilton was proudly performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during the first Trump administration. We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.
Since then, Republicans have been pitching a fit over how cruel it is of Lin Manuel Miranda to do this to poor innocent Trump. Leading the pack has been former Trump ambassador to Germany (he insulted them constantly) and newly minted Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell, who has decided to interpret this as Miranda discriminating against Republicans.
“Seller and [Lin Manuel Miranda] 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 wrote in response. “This is a publicity stunt that will backfire. The Arts are for everyone — not just for the people who Lin likes and agrees with. Americans see you, Lin.”
He also stopped by Fox News on Thursday night to once again claim that Miranda backed out of the Kennedy Center because he didn’t want Republicans coming to his show.
He said, with a straight face:
“The Kennedy Center is open for business for everyone. We just want an arts center that celebrates arts. We want common sense art. We think it’s time to invite every single person to the Kennedy Center. But one important thing to know. We issued a statement tonight. The new team at the Kennedy Center has not canceled anyone. I know there’s some rumors out there that we have somehow canceled shows, we have not canceled anyone. They’ve pulled out themselves or they were told that due to ticket sales it wasn’t financially good enough and they decided to back out because they were concerned about the finances.
“We want a Kennedy Center that is open to everyone, and what that means is that shows like Hamilton are gonna have to allow Republicans to buy tickets, but Lin-Manuel said ‘I don’t want to have Republicans coming here, I don’t want to be in a space where Republicans are coming to my shows.’ I think that’s intolerant, and that’s one of the things that Donald Trump has really brought back into Washington, into America, into the Kennedy Center. Is to say ‘Everyone is welcome, we’re not gonna cancel, we’re not gonna tell people that they’re not welcome, everyone is welcome’”
Again, Donald Trump literally said, “We took over the Kennedy Center. We didn’t like what they were showing and various other things. […] 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.’” He explicitly, explicitly said that not everyone was welcome, explicitly said that there would be an ideological test for performers, and that is why they’re not getting Hamilton.
Of course, because Republicans are very, very sensitive to rejection, hundreds of them responded to Grenell’s commentary by expressing their disappointment that Miranda does not think they are worthy of getting to see Hamilton.
“So disappointing. I absolutely love musical theater and respect great talent… It’s a shame that those of us who support the arts but aren’t on the left, are now not only attacked, condemned and vilified…now we are also left out of enjoying an artistic experience too. Very sad…” typed Right Side Broadcasting Network reporter Nikki Stanzione, who is clearly very good at fact checking.
Why they would even want a musical that contains the line “Immigrants — we get the job done” remains a mystery, as does the fact that many complained about the fact that the cast was mean to Mike Pence that one time (which some of us would say is less bad than trying to hang him).
Incredibly, Grenell’s temper tantrums have yet to convince Miranda or Sellers to bring the show back to the Kennedy Center — perhaps because they’ve seen this musical before?
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
Whenever Lin Manuel-Miranda comes up I can still say he is my neighbor while I am still in The Heights of Manhattan. He is the real deal, he has stayed in this neighborhood and supports the arts community with lots of money and personal involvement. He takes his kids to the local parks and takes the subway on occasion at the 181st. stop. I know these things are true because I have seen him as recently as a few weeks ago. I would expect nothing less. He is a really awesome dude.
Um, if these folks want to see Hamilton I think it’s still available to stream on Disney+.
But I can’t wait for the “new” Kennedy Center’s production of “The Sound Of Music” where the Nazis are the good guys and the von Trapps are derided as “woke insurrectionists”.