Ric Grenell needed a job as secretary of state in President Donald Trump’s second time period, however he landed on the Kennedy Heart for the Performing Arts as a substitute.
Grenell, who additionally holds the imprecise title of “special envoy” within the administration, noticed his Kennedy Heart gig introduced by Trump in a Fact Social submit, saying, “RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!”
In fact, that welcome was headed by Trump’s promise to rid the cultural heart of “DRAG SHOWS” and “OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA,” foreshadowing the hard-right flip the middle would quickly make.
Nonetheless, Grenell has been lower than dazzled by the manufacturing of issues, in line with The New York Occasions. Actually, he reportedly hates the gig.
Grenell, who was the U.S. ambassador to Germany throughout Trump’s first time period, is hardly round and serially unavailable for conferences together with his now 100-plus staff.
However the 59-year-old does have one small funding in what goes on in his new job. Over the previous few months, Grenell—on the behest of his “anti-woke” boss—has been hell-bent on ridding the traditionally nonpartisan arts heart of something barely resembling what he’d name leftist ideology and changing it with extra conservative, evangelical-friendly leisure.
The Kennedy Heart, proven in 2019.
And the cold-shouldered boss, whose newly employed Republican underlings have been labeled “unfriendly” and “unprofessional,” has concepts for the way to carry this all out.
Should you ask him, new programming for the Kennedy Heart ought to grow to be extra like Paula Abdul, the Nineteen Eighties pop star who’s now doubtless extra identified for starring in actuality TV reveals. However on condition that Grenell was in his 20s at Abdul’s top of fame, this is sensible.
In spite of everything, the short-tempered MAGA loyalist has credited his {qualifications} for working an arts heart to his husband, who’s a former dancer.
“He would bring up his husband as a way to be like, ‘Well, I know a lot about entertaining dance because I fell in love with a dancer,’” Jane Raleigh, the Kennedy Heart’s former dance director, informed the Occasions.
Grenell’s chilly shoulder falls in step with his popularity for having a pointy tongue on-line. From berating artists to finishing up comment-section kerfuffles on public Instagram pages, in line with The New York Occasions, Grenell’s cattiness is properly perceived even exterior of his new office.
“You sound vaccinated,” Grenell stated to a commenter who in contrast him with the Nazis in “The Sound of Music.”
Each day Kos reached out to Grenell for touch upon these claims however didn’t hear again by time of publication.
The factor is, Grenell’s shallow expertise and the Kennedy Heart’s new anti-woke measures assist clarify why ticket and membership gross sales have declined.
Between Sept. 3 and Oct. 19, over 50,000 seats within the venue had remained empty—about 43% of complete capability—in line with an evaluation from The Washington Submit.
However issues had been there properly earlier than that. When Trump appointed himself as chair of the Kennedy Heart board, changing members with individuals extra politically aligned, a mass exodus of artists and staff started. Even the favored musical “Hamilton” bowed out of an upcoming manufacturing.
And whereas Republicans are claiming they’re simply attempting to make the Kennedy Heart extra inclusive for cultural conservatives, the response from showgoers—or lack thereof—paints an image that they may be steering within the incorrect path.
However what do we all know, possibly Grenell is correct. Perhaps just a little Paula Abdul may repair all of it.
