President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions blasted producers of the Broadway musical Hamilton for staging a “publicity stunt.”
Grenell, who was named by Trump as the interim executive director of the Kennedy Center in Washington, called out producer Jeffrey Seller and the musical’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, after claiming Trump’s “takeover” of the Washington, DC, venue as he named himself chair prompted them to cancel upcoming shows.
March 2026 would have seen the kickoff of the Broadway musical’s third run at the Kennedy Center, but Miranda told the New York Times this week that the venue is “not the Kennedy Center as we knew it.”
“The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center,” he said. “We’re just not going to be part of it.”
Seller took to social media to whine about how he could not “in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.”
“We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover,” he wrote.
Grenell dropped some “facts” of his own in response.
“Let’s be clear on the facts. Seller and [Miranda] first went to the New York Times before they came to the Kennedy Center with their announcement that they can’t be in the same room with Republicans,” Grenell wrote on X.
Let’s be clear on the facts.
Seller and @Lin_Manuel first went to the New York Times before they came to the Kennedy Center with their announcement that they can’t be in the same room with Republicans.
This is a publicity stunt that will backfire.
The Arts are for everyone -… https://t.co/K56LjofULp
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) March 5, 2025
“This is a publicity stunt that will backfire,” he added.
“The Arts are for everyone – not just for the people who Lin likes and agrees with,” Grenell wrote.
“The American people need to know that [Miranda] is intolerant of people who don’t agree with him politically,” he continued. “It’s clear he and Sellers [sic] don’t want Republicans going to their shows.”
“Americans see you, Lin.”
Social media users concurred and called out the hypocrisy while applauding Grenell’s truth bomb.
“Politics have never affected the presentation of thousands of shows…”
I seem to remember the cast of Hamilton lecturing Mike Pence when he and his wife attended the show during the first Trump administration.
— David Gray (@Bad_DavidG) March 5, 2025
Goodbye Lin pic.twitter.com/74WF6GNCd4
— Dianne Janssen (@DianneJanssen3) March 6, 2025
@Lin_Manuel is a Trump hater and we couldn’t care less for his crocodile tears about politicization of the Kennedy Center. It’s time to reinforce Pro-American culture though the Arts!
— Apljak-NH☘️✝️ (@apljak6502) March 5, 2025
This brouhaha doesn’t matter to most of the United States taxpayers.
They will never have the opportunity to see any performance at a venue in DC.
This really only matters to people in the DC bubble.
Thanks for trying to make something out of the Kennedy Center hot mess.— A K Noorian (@tutueme) March 6, 2025
Maybe a staging of 1776 the musical would be an appropriate response, especially with the 250th anniversary of the nation approaching.
— Sean Newton (@TheOtherSean22) March 5, 2025
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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