Friday, July 3, 2026

Kennedy Center: Trump Loyalists Oust Dance Programmers, Censor Chinese Art Work, Consider Installing Cracker Barrel, Water Slide

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How much more damage can Trump and his lackeys inflict on the poor Kennedy Center?

In a further move to the right, Richard Grennell and his pack of thugs have fired the dance programmers. They’ve also removed the Tim Yip artwork called “China Red” from the front windows after two decades.

What’s left? Installing a Cracker Barrel restaurant and a water slide into the Potomac. Come on, Donnie, why not go all the way?

I hope all the Democrats and hidden Hollywood righties are happy about all the changes at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, and other arts institutions. I do mean you, Brian Grazer.

According to Kennedy Center — soon to be called “KFC” spokesperson Roma Daravi — three longtime directors were ousted including Director of Dance Programming Jane Raleigh and Assistant Manager Mallory Miller, a lead organizer in the effort to unionize staff. Miller described the dismissals as proof of why a union is needed, calling the cuts “a form of censorship.”

In case you were interested, Raleigh’s bio reads: “Jane Raleigh is the Director of Dance Programming at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In her role at the Kennedy Center, she curates the Ballet subscription series and presents all mainstage Dance offerings as well as a variety of dance performances on the Center’s Millennium Stage and in the Center’s REACH expansion spaces. Locally, Raleigh serves as co-chair of the Pola Nirenska Award jury, and has served as a member of the Blacklight Summit Community Committee, and the board of Dance Loft on 14. Nationally, she an active member of Dance/USA and the Association of Performing Arts Professionals.”

Here’s what Miller had to say:

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Mallory Miller (@punkyp)

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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