Drag queens banned as Donald Trump claims crown of US arts king

Donald Trump will take over the country’s leading cultural centre, sacking board members and appointing himself as chairman.

Donald Trump takes in the Super Bowl pre-game show at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Monday AEDT. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump will take over the country’s leading cultural centre, sacking board members and ­ appointing himself as chairman to usher in a new “golden age in arts and culture”.

The US President declared he would oversee programming at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, imposing an immediate ban on events featuring performers in drag.

The announcement came at the end of a tumultuous week in which Mr Trump and his administration bulldozed their way through federal bureaucracy.

Three weeks into his second term in the White House, the President’s team has moved to close government agencies, freeze spending and cut the jobs of more than two million public servants.

Posting on social media, Mr Trump declared the arts were next in the firing line.

“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC great again. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple ­individuals from the board of trustees, including the chairman, who do not share our vision for a ­golden age in arts and culture,” he wrote.

“We will soon announce a new board, with an amazing chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” the President added, before posting an AI-generated picture of himself conducting an orchestra.

“Welcome to the new Kennedy Centre!” the caption said.

Mr Trump said he would reshape the centre’s schedule on conservative lines, noting that in recent months “the Kennedy Centre featured drag shows specifically targeting our youth”. “THIS WILL STOP,” he declared.

“The Kennedy Centre is an American jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our nation … THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”

The news caused uproar from artists and entertainers. Comedian Steve Martin wrote on social media that under Mr Trump’s stewardship, the Kennedy Centre would soon feature “the incomparable vocal talents of Lara Trump,” the President’s daughter-in-law, whose attempts to launch a singing career have been widely panned.

“MC will be DJ Trump. I bet he can be encouraged to dance a bit!” Martin added. “Big Macs available in the lobby. You’ll have a super patriot time.”

Mr Trump broke with tradition in his first term as president by refusing to attend the Kennedy Centre Honours, the institution’s hallmark annual event, after some performers criticised him.

His move to seize control of the board of trustees upends decades of bipartisan tradition at the storied arts centre, where the board’s 36 members are split evenly between Republican and Democrat appointees.

Former president Joe Biden filled several vacancies on the board in the final weeks of his ­administration, appointing close aides including White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Trump appointees from his first term include Attorney-General Pam Bondi and country singer Lee Greenwood, whose song God Bless the USA was the unofficial anthem of Mr Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

The Kennedy Centre’s chairman is the financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein, who has held the post for more than a decade. Mr Rubenstein had been set to retire in January but following Mr Trump’s election victory, the centre announced that he would stay in the post until September 2026.

First conceived under president Dwight Eisenhower in 1955, the move to build an auditorium for the arts in Washington was taken up by John F. Kennedy before his assassination in 1963.

The Kennedy Centre finally opened on the banks of the Potomac River in 1971 with a requiem mass for the murdered president.

The Times