the thing they don't understand about forcibly taking over cultural institutions is that it will not make people love them or their sad excuse for a culture the actual creators will simply take their talents elsewhere and the institutions will crumble behind them - ThreadSky

rincewind.run • 10 days ago

the thing they don't understand about forcibly taking over cultural institutions is that it will not make people love them or their sad excuse for a culture

the actual creators will simply take their talents elsewhere and the institutions will crumble behind them

Reposted from WuTangIsForTheChildren

Shonda Rhimes resigns from Kennedy Center board 🔥
www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politic...

Comments

waveofhopepatrol.bsky.social•10 days ago

Trump wants the KC to crumble.

glennmuir.bsky.social•10 days ago

Jesus, Lee Harvey Oswald and Sirhan Sirhan didn't kill their Kennedys as hard as Trump's trying to with this one.

grogofgrog.bsky.social•10 days ago

I guess they'll set up another org and do shows elsewhere.

stiricide.bsky.social•10 days ago

I think they do understand, and like everything else, they don't care. If they still have successful programming, they were right; they win. If it fails, they were right to run it in to the ground, and will dance on its corpse. It's lose-lose for the arts (and everyone else), which to them is a win.

opus3.bsky.social•10 days ago

Trump has no class. In fact Trump is the antithesis of class.

jnrn.bsky.social•10 days ago

Ben Folds and Renée Fleming also resigned.

timothymnolan.bsky.social•10 days ago

and Jon Batiste and the KC President were ousted by President Super Victim

mdpoppa.bsky.social•10 days ago

....uh, and also, he can't install himself as chair? Didn't the board state they vote and he just can't? Did I miss something or is this just another 'welp he did this thing and oh well'?

mmebahorel.bsky.social•10 days ago

He's getting much better at coups with more experience.

twixicat.bsky.social•10 days ago

He needs it to look like he was "chosen".

nvbinder.io•10 days ago

He appointed 15 new board members and they “voted” (this is real)

mdpoppa.bsky.social•10 days ago

Blaaaaaaaargh!
Thanks

nvbinder.io•10 days ago

One of them was Usha Vance

mdpoppa.bsky.social•10 days ago

And it's much more broadly worse. No further show attendance from this family for a while.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/nx-s1-5294697/trump-kennedy-center-chairman

haikugeneral.bsky.social•10 days ago

isn't that exactly what they want? i think you might be more confused than them.

catherinehapka.bsky.social•9 days ago

Plus, real presidents shouldn't have time for a side hustle.

jaaro.bsky.social•10 days ago

Am I supposed to know what the Kennedy board is? I'm sure this is bad but I'm so confused about people talking about this like everyone knows what it is.

juanfayora.bsky.social•10 days ago

Exactly, we need to get all these talent somewhere else in DC, to protect the great cultural programming and to cause him an ulcer

blackcatcrosses.bsky.social•10 days ago

Eh. They’ve still got Scott Baio, Ted Nugent and Kid Rock.

elkmovie.bsky.social•10 days ago

The NEA budget is around $200M/year, or roughly twice the annual Broadway gross of “Wicked”; they’re not in a position to demand much of anything from artists

redshift42.bsky.social•10 days ago

They've spent years in a bubble telling each other that the only reason people don't like the things they think they should like is that they're forced somehow, or "indoctrinated." So that completely justifies trying to force us themselves, and they'll fail to learn when it fails.

daphne36.bsky.social•10 days ago

They dont care: they dream of a world, where "cons. movies" like Ladyballers and Am I Racist are peak fiction.

mushroomsoupowl.bsky.social•10 days ago

They're probably just going to make giant canvas prints of AI slop Aryan families where the parents are 6 fingered siblings and bodybuilding Jesus hovers ominously overhead with a school bus full of machine guns.

m-ch.bsky.social•10 days ago

And crumbling those institutions is the actual goal.

liviohenrik.bsky.social•10 days ago

They understand this. These people like trump know this. It's why they ruin it. King Shit Turd Mountain is what they want.

ebwrite.bsky.social•10 days ago

No legitimate artist will appear there anymore. Chilling that he is following the footsteps of Hitler.

classicalradical.bsky.social•10 days ago

Unfortunately, there are a lot of ways Trump can put pressure on the entertainment industry. Most notably, he can deny assistance from the military in filming action movies, which would cause budgets to skyrocket.

blow-me-a-kis.bsky.social•10 days ago

Its what the Kennedy center deserves after not offering coffee to anyone but their fancy rich members. I had to just sit thru The Lion King with the worst caffeine withdrawal headache smh

ryanonamountain.bsky.social•10 days ago

I think that’s the plan.

erma-gerd.bsky.social•10 days ago

Designated Survivor is looking better and better

hennypenny2.bsky.social•10 days ago

so is it now the trump/Musk Center?

jasonandrade.bsky.social•10 days ago

It will turn out that:

- They do in fact understand this
- There is no actual care about what this does to the future of the cultural institutions
- It takes time for things to crumble and in the meantime they will revel in the decay

deathspeaker.bsky.social•10 days ago

I'm pretty confident this is according to their desires. They want to destroy art. Facists fucking hate art.

superkittyworld.bsky.social•10 days ago

i wish peeps would not quit bc they will be replaced by 🍊 bootlickers which makes it worse

krystolla.bsky.social•10 days ago

Already happened with Romance Writers of America - the racists took over and the whole thing crumbled in under three years.

pinballtocrease.bsky.social•10 days ago

That’s a good comparison actually.

caseinsensit1ve.bsky.social•9 days ago

Compare that to the saga of the Sad Puppies

eclecticlynn.bsky.social•10 days ago

Will Mango Mussolini cancel Parade? I'm sure MTG thinks the true story is blasphemous

eclecticlynn.bsky.social•9 days ago

The cancellations have begun. Kennedy Center Cancels Tour Of Acclaimed Children’s Musical ‘Finn’; Actors’ Equity Calls Decision “Beyond Appalling”

https://deadline.com/2025/02/kennedy-center-finn-actors-equity-1236288757/

mmebahorel.bsky.social•10 days ago

This is what I'm waiting to see. That's a lot of months in which a contract could be broken. (lol if this is the second national tour of Parade to cancel on me, though at least the original in Chicago was money problems rather than thinking the "lynching is bad" musical is too woke.)

dottiedino.bsky.social•10 days ago

the crumbling is also a fash goal

art makes you feel and think

that’s against the rules

hobbestoo.bsky.social•10 days ago

That might be the point.
https://bsky.app/profile/gtconway.bsky.social/post/3lhza2cdps22r

donsheldon.bsky.social•10 days ago

"Hello, fellow respected cultural influencers."

tileman.bsky.social•9 days ago

I think this is just another of his distractions to get people to focus on something other than killing the Department of Education, firing Inspectors General and watchdog organizations like the CFPB. He'll certainly also be going after the IRS and the Government Accountability Office.

spacecasey.bsky.social•10 days ago

Hear me out: mass protest drag show in front of the center

eldritchbumblebee.bsky.social•9 days ago

I believe that’s scheduled for the 13th. check out fire mouse’s page

injore.bsky.social•10 days ago

What they can’t own they try to burn. And they can do great damage. But all those people who left have resources and a desire to create, share and uplift. That’s not going to change.

jeffjohnson5.bsky.social•10 days ago

And now, live from the Kennedy center, a very special event with Kid Rock, James Wood, and Rob Schneider…

kapwen.bsky.social•10 days ago

With special appearances by Jon Voight and Mel Gibson.

superkittyworld.bsky.social•10 days ago

right? anyone who quits will be replaced by a racist bigot which makes things worse for us

twistmeyer.bsky.social•10 days ago

And Chuck Norris giving the lifetime achievement award to Steven Seagal

jojosbizarrelife.bsky.social•10 days ago

Remotely, as they have yet to invent a plane good enough at spitting on the law of gravity to get Seagal into the sky.

chickpea7.bsky.social•10 days ago

SR doesn't need this crap.

aolgrandpa.bsky.social•10 days ago

This whole thing is a stark reminder of how much elite MAGA rage really stems from their pathetic need to have people think of them as cool.

rosedees.bsky.social•10 days ago

As it has always turned out.

mathewforesta.bsky.social•10 days ago

Very true, but it's about brute force. Silence all voices and ideas you hate and try to inculcate some of your people in a bubble. It's a far-right dream, their children will never hear a dissenting word.

generalrusty78.bsky.social•9 days ago

Especially now with the internet

btrwkart.bsky.social•10 days ago

THANK YOU.

They are going to try to be the culture and people are just going to say, "Nope."

You can push Top40 on the world, and people are going to Metal.

You can push anodyne, vapid stuff and people are going to Jazz/Big Band.

tessafisher.bsky.social•10 days ago

Hell, even Top 40 isn't going to be receptive. Not one but *two* current or current recent hits (Gigi Perez's Sailor Song, and Chappell Roan's Good Luck, Babe) are explicitly about lesbian relationships

btrwkart.bsky.social•10 days ago

Yeah, but my point was (80s) Top40 is a thing we were supposed to like culturally, and I and a lot of others went Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and Metallica.

tessafisher.bsky.social•10 days ago

Oh, gotcha, yeah, agreed.

technicallyowen.bsky.social•10 days ago

We've seen it before Ford spent millions pushing square dancing to save Americas youth from the Jewish plot of jazz and almost no one still does it. https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy

kimsinftw.bsky.social•10 days ago

Well at least the WWE has a new spot to hold matches.

acjaggard.bsky.social•10 days ago

Yes Yes YES
https://medium.com/@beethovennow/toscanini-defied-mussolini-and-protested-against-hitler-a536c503dff5

rickywlmsbong.bsky.social•10 days ago

yes but we can hear him out on ben folds

citizensteve.bsky.social•9 days ago

I'm looking forward to seeing how the anti-cancel-culture comedians maintain their sense of persecution when one of them wins the Mark Twain prize.

bkjwordplay.bsky.social•10 days ago

"It's handled."

noahlz.bsky.social•10 days ago

What, Kid Rock isn't high culture???

thegoonkills.bsky.social•10 days ago

It's not about making art that will praise them, it's about funnelling more money to the scam artists running the shit show.

tx-firecracker.bsky.social•10 days ago

They don’t gaf about that

Not now, especially.

They’re psychopaths

andimann.bsky.social•10 days ago

Can't wait to see Kid Rock and Ted Nugent playing to a mostly empty venue.

angelaisms.bsky.social•10 days ago

Kinda like all the people on Xitter who bought themselves blue checks and then got all shocked-pikachu-gif that the blue checks immediately lost their value.

clamchop.bsky.social•10 days ago

Thinking causing it to fail is the point.

themanfromrio.bsky.social•10 days ago

I just keep thinking about The Family Guy episode where Peter directs The King and I in regards to this

cbthemonk.bsky.social•10 days ago

he doesn’t care if you love him as long as you fear him .

pinogap.bsky.social•10 days ago

*points to the timeless post*

https://bsky.app/profile/normative.bsky.social/post/3laxlgp35sc2o

pianoman12.bsky.social•9 days ago

He will debase the Kennedy Center just like he debased the Presidential Medal of Freedom by giving it to criminals and losers.

zeroisanumber.bsky.social•10 days ago

Morbidly curious what high culture means to fash-ass boomers.

caseinsensit1ve.bsky.social•9 days ago

Minion memes, probably

pershing48.bsky.social•10 days ago

Cats, all day

somniloqy.bsky.social•10 days ago

Nah, Andrew Lloyd Webber would have booked it too.

chance747.bsky.social•10 days ago

Kevin Sorbo is waiting in the wings.

nathanplante.bsky.social•10 days ago

Case in point, Twitter.

janmug.bsky.social•10 days ago

I'm sure there's plenty of MAGA billionaires who will pick up the slack in an organization funded to more than 80% by donations. I mean, who wants the Berlin Philharmonie playing Beethoven when he can have the Mormon choir doing a patriotic medley.

thegeorg.bsky.social•10 days ago

The guy who bought Skinwalker Ranch is a Mormon billionaire. They'll be fine.

technicallyowen.bsky.social•10 days ago

So an actual skin walker

bigalincal.bsky.social•10 days ago

Hitler purged German art, and created a new German museum, full of what Shirer described as the worst pile of crap he'd ever seen. Goebbels took the purged art (Mondrian, Chagall etc) and put it in a shitty display to show people what trash was purged. It was more popular, and he had to close it.

olivercolander.bsky.social•10 days ago

And Goering hoarded dozens of purged pieces for himself because those stupid assholes knew the entire time that they were kidding themselves.

johnnieburdette.bsky.social•10 days ago

It all makes sense, Micah.

Culture is dependent on a having a healthy society.

Neoliberalism stipulates that society is a fallacy and non existent.

Trump, and his Republican cronies are neoliberals.

mav.wtf•9 days ago

With respect: I think you're vastly underestimating the inertia that places like the Kennedy center and the Smithsonian have.

We can make new culture, sure, but we can't get those centuries of culture back.

turbl.es•10 days ago

Ben folds also resigned

ghastlysundae.bsky.social•10 days ago

And the other 4?

pjeanne97.bsky.social•10 days ago

Can the Kennedy take their name off it and rebuild something else?

tominco.bsky.social•10 days ago

After Fort Bragg, they will rename the Kennedy Center after RFK Jr and it will all be over.

enceladusty.bsky.social•10 days ago

They'd still rather kill it than let it stand.

barnett-matt.bsky.social•10 days ago

They understand it. Destroying things is the point.

dso-m45.bsky.social•10 days ago

It's simply to spite them. He's a petty little man.

morganfahey.bsky.social•10 days ago

I look forward to the Avignon Kennedy Center funded by Mackenzie Bezos

ebfortin.bsky.social•10 days ago

That's not their goal either. They put everything in place to quash any disent, inc’uding in culture. When that's done peop’e will either auto censure or else be punished. The standard Fascist playbook, fourth edition.

ryderda.bsky.social•10 days ago

And the orange thing wins again

rincewind.run•10 days ago

installing yourself as head of the Kennedy Center doesn't make you cool, it makes the Kennedy Center irrelevant

padrock.bsky.social•10 days ago

Mo Willems is gonna make a scathing pigeon story about this

hansumjay.bsky.social•7 days ago

His name will never be prestigious. The family will slink into the crevices and change their name in the next country they try and destroy

citoyendumonde.bsky.social•7 days ago

Trump names new Artistic Advisor to the Kennedy Center's National Symphony Orchestra

5narktwain.bsky.social•9 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/5narktwain.bsky.social/post/3li4lrlc6ok2v

mganga.bsky.social•10 days ago

Nugent will finally get to play the Millennium Stage

kemplify.bsky.social•10 days ago

This is how you get a better, cooler "Rhimes Center" that draws way more people than the Kennedy Center.

fernmonkey.bsky.social•10 days ago

It puts an asterisk after any Kennedy Center honoree going forward, but that's all.

mr-implausible.bsky.social•10 days ago

the bummer is that the national symphony musicians had to strike (briefly) in october and agreed to a short term contract that ends next year. i fully expect a long term strike or lockout now.

businessmen running cultural institutions always care more about money than art.

mmebahorel.bsky.social•10 days ago

I 100% expect this will be a union-busting move. NSO, Washington National Opera, any Washington Ballet performances, all Equity national tours, the entire IATSE backstage crew, the house productions like Shear Madness - all union, all likely to be in the crosshairs.

eawinick.bsky.social•10 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/redstarbird.bsky.social/post/3li2vzenjzs2i

jtsdmpk.bsky.social•10 days ago

Trying to remember who said this a couple days ago, but it's increasingly clear that they thought liberals were "controlling" media and culture top-down, and they're just going to get more aggrieved when they realize that's not the case at all.

liwill.bsky.social•9 days ago

kianrazi.bsky.social•9 days ago

The Kennedy Center: now 100% less culture, 100% more censorship. The only diversity on display is in their crony photo op. We're witnessing a masterclass in erasing progress. Who needs art when you've got a "chair" who prefers empty seats to real change?

cubicdystopias.bsky.social•9 days ago

No shade to the Kennedy Center, but like... I also hardly think of it as a pillar of coolness?

generalrusty78.bsky.social•9 days ago

Or relevant never heard about it this this happened

timrust.bsky.social•10 days ago

I doubt if that concerns him at all

craigmranapia.bsky.social•10 days ago

Also, keeping afloat a performing arts complex whose three main performances spaces come up to around six thousand seats is a titanic challenge. Especially in a city, with all due respect, not exactly known for the most lively performing arts scene in the country.

jennc.bsky.social•10 days ago

Oh, look! The same joke they've been making for 40 years! These guys definitely have their finger on the pulse!

coyote.band•10 days ago

it's like when they thought buying blue checkmarks will make people respect them

shannonkay.com•10 days ago

I'm still upset about the misuse of the concept of account verification from then. The "checkmark" verification was literally just meant to say that this is the person they say they are. This is the real Levar Burton, etc. It wasn't meant to verify information or indicate status. I know, it's past.

caseinsensit1ve.bsky.social•9 days ago

No one ever respected bluechecks

kapwen.bsky.social•10 days ago

It's like when they changed the Village People to a straight, right wing musical group.

gabriellers.bsky.social•9 days ago

This made me chuckle!! Thanks for that!

wintersong.bsky.social•10 days ago

I have to assume that destroying The Kennedy Center was the objective from the start.

cjtreehugger.bsky.social•10 days ago

hypergraphic.bsky.social•8 days ago

The SOB is taking over everything!!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kennedy-center-cancels-acclaimed-kids-musical-over-sparkly-boys-creators-hint/ar-AA1z3SUg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=2ffadc4d89f84491a642901be0a497ac&ei=14

arethusa131.bsky.social•7 days ago

Exactly. Only for MAGA.

thejurry.bsky.social•10 days ago

When the nerds move to the cool kids table, the nerds don't suddenly become cool, the cool kids find somewhere else to sit.

koeitan.bsky.social•10 days ago

trump and elon arent nerds

hbizzles.bsky.social•10 days ago

More like weird bullies moving to the actual cool kids table. They’re all such stupid losers.

gabriellers.bsky.social•9 days ago

He breaks everything he touches and then covers it in excrement.

bradiscranky.bsky.social•10 days ago

gotta keep gramps busy somehow. putting on musicals will distract him with a dressing room to constantly invade and he won't get mad at elon for calling himself doge emperor

johnkramer.bsky.social•10 days ago

Matt Walsh needs to smile more.

phyphor.one-dash.org•10 days ago

Trump : Kennedy Center :: Musk : Twitter

kedwards.bsky.social•10 days ago

Just what I was thinking. It will never not make laugh that he spent all that money to buy Twitter because he was sure they were “shadow banning”conservatives and he was going to expose the truth! And no, it’s just ya’ll suck and no one likes you, no matter how hard you fuck with the algorithm.

technicallyowen.bsky.social•10 days ago

How dare you put on a season that embraces diversity equality and inclusion I'm going to make my own Kennedy center with blackjack and hookers.

jackfeerick.bsky.social•10 days ago

There's a Turkish proverb: When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king -- the palace turns into a circus.

dueledge.bsky.social•10 days ago

A bit unfair to King Verence II

jimj.bsky.social•10 days ago

Hopefully he's got the ego to rename the place after himself and we get to watch it implode as yet another eponymous venture.

markcollier.me•10 days ago

or, worse yet, they do understand that and crumbling institutions is the point

emmeetsworld.bsky.social•10 days ago

There's so many other theater opportunities in DC and I'm really hoping that the talent will flock there and truly piss him off.

mmebahorel.bsky.social•10 days ago

KenCen is mostly a touring house when it comes to theatre, but people are going to miss the stability of being able to cycle into Shear Madness. I'm more concerned for the symphony, the jazz series, the loss of a major touring venue for out of town and international companies of various types.

emmeetsworld.bsky.social•10 days ago

Well yes, I was specifically thinking of those Broadway Center Stage productions that attracted the truly huge names for limited runs. But also all of the musicians featured with the NSO and at Millennium Stage performances. There are some truly unique experiences through those programs

mmebahorel.bsky.social•10 days ago

And other programs that will definitely be lost because they are not going to serve the desires of the new overlords. Actually, I take it back, the young audience theatre I keep forgetting about is entirely Equity locals onstage with major author commissions. https://dctheaterarts.org/2025/02/12/jason-loewith-on-the-fight-for-our-countrys-artistic-soul/

thewanderingjew.bsky.social•10 days ago

honestly, I think he shoulud spend all four years on Kennedy Center shit

persianx6.bsky.social•10 days ago

Audiences will know the difference between a well written Shonda rhymes vehicle and AI crap.

We just saw it with Americas reaction to Super Bowl ads.

damnitamanda.bsky.social•10 days ago

Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

It's working.

kabulykos.bsky.social•10 days ago

Angry that the cool kids won over the institutions, their response is to wreck the institutions

They'd rather rule a dark, abandoned casino than demean themselves by negotiating space within shining a palace

rockmondo.bsky.social•10 days ago

Whatever the Nazis produce at Kennedy Center will SUCK.
It needs to be encouraged to SUCK even more.
Does Liberty U or Regents have a Theater Program? Maybe they could produce a Family Friendly Country Music Extravaganza at the Center.