WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump says he is firing members of the board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and naming himself chairman.
He also indicated that he would be dictating at one of the nation's premier cultural institutions, specifically declaring that he would end events featuring performers in drag.
Trump's announcement Friday came as the Republican president has across official Washington during the first weeks of his second term, trying to shutter federal agencies, freeze spending and ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the government.
鈥淎t my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., 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,鈥 Trump wrote on his social media website.
鈥淲e will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!鈥
In a statement later on its website, the Kennedy Center said it was aware of Trump's post. 鈥淲e have received no official communications from the White House regarding changes to our board of trustees,鈥 the statement said. 鈥淲e are aware that some members of our board have received termination notices from the administration.鈥
The statement continued: 鈥淧er the Centersa国际传媒 governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Centersa国际传媒 board members. There is nothing in the Centersa国际传媒 statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Centersa国际传媒 board.鈥
Drag artists accused Trump of targeting them because of who they are in a country where freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution.
鈥淭his is about who gets to exist in public spaces and whose stories get to be told on Americasa国际传媒 stage,鈥 said Blaq Dinamyte, president of Qommittee, a national network of drag artists and allies. 鈥淏anning an entire art form is censorship, plain and simple. Americans don鈥檛 have to agree on everything, but we should be able to speak our minds and perform our art without bans, retaliation, or intimidation.鈥
Unlike Democratic President and other presidents through the decades, Trump did not attend the annual ceremonies during his first term.
Shortly after Trumpsa国际传媒 post, the Kennedy Center website began experiencing technical difficulties. Visitors got a message reading 鈥淲e are experiencing high traffic鈥 and were redirected to a 鈥渨aiting room鈥 that listed how many hundreds of people were trying to access the site ahead of them.
Trump suggested in his post that he would be implementing some changes to the center's performance schedule, noting that last year 鈥渢he Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth 鈥 THIS WILL STOP."
According to its website, the center in July hosted a preshow titled 鈥淎 Drag Salute to Divas鈥 and a November 鈥淒rag Brunch.鈥
In his post, Trump did not clarify which board of trustee members he would terminate besides the current chairman, philanthropist David Rubenstein. The board often features political powerbrokers and major donors, and is currently made up of members from both sides of the aisle.
Rubenstein was first elected to the post in 2010 and reelected each year since that time. He was originally appointed to the Kennedy Center board by Republican President George W. Bush and subsequently reappointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and Biden.
The current board features Bidensa国际传媒 White House press secretary, , as well as Mike Donilon, Bidensa国际传媒 longtime ally, and Stephanie Cutter, a former Obama adviser. The treasurer of the centersa国际传媒 board of trustees is television producer , who hosted fundraisers for Biden before he abandoned his reelection bid last summer.
But the current board also features Trump allies, including Pam Bondi, his recently confirmed attorney general, and Lee Greenwood, whose song 鈥淕od Bless the USA,鈥 was the unofficial anthem of Trumpsa国际传媒 presidential campaigns.
During his first term in 2019, Trump announced that he was tapping actor Jon Voight, a longtime supporter, to the board, along with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is Trump's second-term pick to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
