The hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” has canceled its eight-week run in 2026 on the Kennedy Heart amid President Donald Trump’s takeover of the nationwide acting arts middle.
Jeffrey Vendor, the manufacturer of “Hamilton,” wrote at the play’s professional Instagram that political debate and war of words are “vital expressions of democracy,” however that the Kennedy Heart will have to be “protected from politics.”
“However, in recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed,” Vendor wrote. “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.”
The Tony Award-winning play about Alexander Hamilton was once scheduled to go back to the D.C. venue from March 3 via April 26, 2026.
When requested for remark, the Kennedy Heart directed HuffPost to a publish from Richard Grenell, the Trump-appointed president of the Kennedy Heart. Grenell wrote on X that Vendor and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writer of “Hamilton,” “can’t be in the same room with Republicans.” He often known as the transfer a “publicity stunt that will backfire.”
Miranda’s representatives declined to touch upon Grenell’s accusation, however in a separate remark, Miranda stated the Kennedy Heart has “long been an artistic center historically devoid of a political point of view.”
“At its heart, Hamilton celebrates American diversity,” Miranda stated. “The recent shift in the Kennedy Center’s ideology and board leadership has made it untenable for a production like Hamilton to celebrate and be celebrated there today.”
Folks go out after looking at the musical Hamilton on the Kennedy Heart in Washington, DC on August 06, 2022.
Photograph by means of Craig Hudson for The Washington Put up by way of Getty Pictures
In February, Trump made himself chairman of the Kennedy Heart and straight away started his overhaul. He fired the middle’s long-term president Deborah Rutter, changing her with Grenell, a Trump loyalist. In overall, Trump fired 18 board participants that had been appointed by means of former President Joe Biden. Trump’s movements spurred others to renounce from the board, together with writer-producer Shonda Rimes.
In Vendor’s commentary, he wrote that the display “cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.”
“’Hamilton’ was proudly performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during the first Trump administration,” Vendor wrote. “We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.”
He persisted, pronouncing the cancellation could also be a “business decision” for the reason that Kennedy Heart can’t be depended on to uphold contracts and former agreements. Vendor is apparently relating to the Kennedy Heart’s contemporary resolution to cancel a deliberate excursion of “Finn,” a kids’s musical that may be interpreted as a LGBTQ+ metaphor.
“I have personally loved the Kennedy Center since touring it as a seventh grader in 1977 along with the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial,” Vendor wrote. “I watched the first Kennedy Center Honors in 1978. Regardless of the political climate, I have always felt at home at The Kennedy Center, and I am grateful for every person who has spent the last 50 years making it a beacon of nonpartisanship and celebration. But we cannot presently support an institution that has been forced by external forces to betray its mission as a national cultural center that fosters the free expression of art in The United States of America.”
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Since Trump’s takeover, a number of artists have canceled their displays on the Kennedy Heart, together with Issa Rae, Rhiannon Giddens and the band Low Minimize Connie.
Trump has lengthy been vital of the acting arts middle, in particular its drag displays.
“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” Trump stated on Fact Social in February. “The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
