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On the evening of March 23, the Kennedy Center awarded Conan O’Brien the 2025 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The ceremony, which brought together comedy stars and members of D.C.’s arts elite, was the center’s most significant event since February, when President Trump fired the 18-member nonpartisan board and became its chairman. Aside from a few minor references to “new leadership,” the evening was dominated by praise, not political attacks. When it was his turn to speak, O’Brien made veiled references to the president in general. (He noted that Mark Twain hated bullies and defined patriotism as “standing by your country and your government when it deserves it.”) But if there was a real villain on the night, it was not Trump but Jay Leno, who took over “The Tonight Show” from O’Brien in 2010 after promising to resign.
The ceremony took place in the center’s 2,465-seat, white-walled, copper-carpeted concert hall, which was renovated in 1997 and exuded a warm, slightly weathered grandeur. Afterward, guests headed to an after-party at Reach, a 2019 addition led by former Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter. The 72,000-square-foot complex of pavilions, galleries, and studios is home to much of the institution’s social impact programming, which supports marginalized artists and audiences. Last year, the addition announced a two-year residency program with Play Play DC, a collective that creates “refreshing, creative, fun, healing, and playful experiences for adults and queer adults,” and Chefs Stopping AAPI Hate.
These initiatives are largely funded by social impact donations, but Trump and his supporters argue that such “outlandish” events alienate audiences and drain the center’s resources. At a March 17 board meeting, the president spoke of his desire to make the center “popular again” by hosting more commercially successful programming. He regaled trustees with memories of the first time he saw Cats and noted that the Broadway hit was “doing well” at the center, adding that “we’re going to have some really great shows.” He also spoke of seeking more control over the Kennedy Center Honors, the institution’s flagship awards ceremony, which has honored the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Steven Spielberg, and Paul McCartney. Trump addressed complaints that past selections were “radical left-wing lunatics” and floated Babe Ruth, Elvis Presley, and casino impresario Steve Wynn, a major donor, as possible invitees; he also suggested that hosting duties would likely fall on his shoulders, the “ratings king.” The center’s new president, Richard Grenell, a former ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, shared few details about his programming plans but promised “a huge Christmas celebration.”
Both Trump and Grenell were conspicuously absent from Twain’s festivities. At the party, as donors filed past tables covered in white tablecloths carrying wilted bouquets of truffled fries, young Kennedy Center staffers, identified by name badges, clustered around, looking giddy and nervous. A few days earlier, Tavish Forsythe, associate artistic director of the Washington National Opera’s Opera Institute, had posted a YouTube video of himself stripping naked and delivering a 35-minute spoken-word poem about whether he should quit his job, and was promptly fired. Between five and 10 staffers had quit in the week before the ceremony. Many waited until after the gala to leave. “We’re working extra hours to cover the losses of all the people we’re losing, but we still don’t know how this will impact our jobs personally or the programs we support overall,” one employee told me.
Two days after the event, at least five members of the Kennedy Center’s social impact team were fired, including its vice president and artistic director, Mark Bamuthi Joseph. Joseph, who had led the unit since 2019, told me he understood the official motivation to be financial. (A document obtained by NPR reportedly said the decision was based on the center’s “staffing needs.”) Speaking to the Washington Reporter, Grenell outlined his plan to cut “niche” offerings, saying, “We spent too much on programs that weren’t generating revenue.” Former employees emphasize that the mission of the Kennedy Center, a nonprofit founded in 1971, is not to make a profit but to present the best of American culture. A former employee familiar with the center’s finances told me, “It’s simply not true to say the center’s finances are in bad shape. In fact, under Rutter’s leadership, the foundation
Sourse: newyorker.com
