Several cast members of the popular musical Les Misérables are planning a boycott of the show when President Donald Trump is due to be in the audience at the Kennedy Performing Arts Center next month, according to a report.
Trump is scheduled to attend a big-dollar fundraiser and performance of the hit musical on June 11, but at least 10 to 12 prominent cast members are planning to boycott, according to CNN.
“The cast was given the option to not perform the night Trump will be in the audience, and both major cast members and members of the ensemble are among those sitting out,” the network reports.
The reported rebellion follows the president’s crackdown against “woke culture” at the center, including ousting the institution’s leadership and placing MAGA loyalist Richard Grenell in charge.
Trump, who inserted himself as the board’s chair, will also hold a fundraiser to benefit the institution on the same night as the performance.
Grenell, the center’s interim director, said that he was not aware of the alleged boycott in a statement to CNN, but added that the center will “no longer fund intolerance.”
“Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed,” Grenell said.
“In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn’t hire - and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience. The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other.”
After Trump entered office in January, the Kennedy Center canceled performances including the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C. and children’s musical “Finn,” which has LGBT+ themes. The center claimed the cancellations were due to financial and scheduling concerns, the Associated Press reported at the time.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump said when he overhauled the leadership.
The co-creators of the musical that celebrates an anti-monarchist French uprising in 1832 complained when Trump featured music from Les Mis during his 2016 presidential campaign, The Guardian reported at the time.
After he walked into a rally in Miami to the track “Do You Hear the People Sing?” the co-creators alleged that the campaign did not seek their permission.
Trump now presides over a board that is predominantly Republican, including Attorney General Pamela Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Traditionally, the bipartisan board was divided between Republican and Democratic appointees.
