Kennedy Center Director Rips ‘Les Mis’ Cast Over Trump Boycott: ‘Vapid And Intolerant’

Kennedy Center director Richard Grenell has issued a strongly worded response to reports that around a dozen actors from a “Les Misérables” tour group are planning to boycott an upcoming performance at the facility because President Donald Trump is expected to attend.

“We haven’t heard this rumor,” Grenell told Entertainment Weekly in a statement on Wednesday. “But the Kennedy 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 added. “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 and never ask who someone voted for but instead enjoy a performance together,” he concluded.

Grenell was responding to a CNN report citing sources claiming that “Les Mis” cast members were allowed to boycott the June 11 performance because of Trump. The outlet didn’t name any names, but said “both major cast members and members of the ensemble are among those sitting out,” per their sources.

The Kennedy Center has been in the news lately following Trump’s election and his subsequent move to fire all former leadership and appoint himself Chairman of the Board, plus installing Grenell as interim director. 

There have been protests, cancellations, and general doom and gloom from leftists, but despite their reactions, the venue has been attracting record crowds. The Kennedy Center just broke its all-time attendance record for a public event it hosted on March 29, welcoming 11,000 attendees, of whom 76% were there for the first time.

This comes after Trump promised to scrub leftist programs from the Center’s lineup. “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST,” the president wrote on Truth Social in February. 

“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote in another post. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”