Broadway star Patti LuPone declared multiple times that the Kennedy Center under President Donald Trump should be blown to smithereens.
In a wide-ranging interview with the New Yorker, published on Monday, it was noted that LuPone mentioned “more than once” that she wanted to see the “Trumpified” Kennedy Center “blown up.”
From the New Yorker:
She’s even angrier at the rest of the country. She told me, more than once, that the Trumpified Kennedy Center “should get blown up.” In the S.U.V., apropos the current Administration, she pronounced, “Leave. New York. Alone. Make it its own country. I mean, is there any other city in America that’s as diverse, as in-your-face? It’s a live-or-die city, it really is. Stick it out or leave.”
Trump named himself the chair of the Kennedy Center in February. Trump had previously shaken things up and replaced all members of the board. Numerous artists departed their roles with the Kennedy Center in the wake of Trump’s changes.
In a Truth Social post announcing the board changes, Trump took issue with “drag shows” allegedly targeted toward young people.
“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” he wrote at the time. “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!”
In her New Yorker interview, LuPone did offer praise to a close collaborator who has become a rather outspoken conservative in recent years: David Mamet. The playwright and filmmaker announced in 2008 that he was no longer a “brain-dead liberal.” The New Yorker described Mamet as going “full MAGA.”
“The writing, once I understood the rhythm, became the easiest thing to speak,” LuPone said. “I learned more about acting from David Mamet than I learned in four years at Juilliard.”
