It was a thrill for me, a humble arts reporter whose tales are usually relegated to the again pages of any newspaper, to be crammed into the Kennedy Heart (KC) press pool together with America’s high White Home reporters. Newsrooms throughout America clearly thought of this 12 months’s Kennedy Heart Honors to be a political story, and a number of other reporters expressed shock once I talked about that I used to be there representing an area arts outlet.
“So … how precisely do you cowl a crimson carpet?” was inevitably the following query from White Home reporters at shops like Reuters and Agence France-Presse, who have been extra accustomed to documenting Elon Musk’s son wiping his boogers on the Oval Workplace desk than to interviewing growing older rock stars about their careers and trend decisions.
It appeared {that a} night time out at Trump’s Kennedy Heart was going to be a brand new journey for all of us.
I went into the Kennedy Heart Honors 1) open to critiquing the present on its creative deserves; and a couple of) decided to spill the tea on the political lunacy surrounding the occasion, even when that meant by no means being invited again. I used to be nervous to enter an area that has come to really feel much less like an inventive residence and extra like a political minefield to many artists and journalists, particularly when safety was ramped as much as 100 in anticipation of the president’s attendance. Will the bomb-sniffing canine scent my traitorous anti-Trumpian ideas?
First, the positives: The brand new Kennedy Heart workforce placed on a fairly good present. Was it “the best night time within the historical past of the Kennedy Heart, yada, yada,” that Trump promised? Nah. Not even shut. However contemplating the constraints that the brand new KC workforce was working with: issue in getting A-list artists, and extraordinary turnover in staffing (on account of Trump’s workforce firing or alienating scores of skilled staffers and changing them with political appointees), they placed on a fairly good present.
And the dinner! In earlier KC Honors, journalists have been politely proven to the exit earlier than meals was served, however Trump’s Kennedy Heart had meals for all with obvious disregard for the price of such opulence. God bless us, everybody, I can solely think about that that is what it have to be prefer to dine at Mar-a-Lago: Caviar! Roast beef! Canapés! Endive salads served by waiters who seamlessly blended in with the wallpaper after handing you a recent glass of champagne. The lemon tarts alone have been practically sufficient to make me signal my MAGA enrollment papers on the spot. Democracy be damned, they have been that good.
When you ever get invited to dinner at Donald Trump’s home, properly, first it’s best to query the life decisions that introduced you there, however then it’s best to GO. Go and stuff your pockets with the leftovers. Donald Trump could not know what free and honest elections are, however, man, does he know the way to throw a celebration!
If serving a wonderful dinner have been the purpose of the night time, the occasion would have been a hit. However the Kennedy Heart Honors, now in its forty seventh 12 months, is supposed to honor performing artists who’ve enriched American tradition. And, as with most issues in Trump’s America, artistry took a backseat to virulent, partisan politics all through the night. The present itself, which might be broadcast on CBS and Paramount+ on December 23, went off and not using a hitch, regardless of Trump’s insistence on internet hosting it himself, with long-winded monologues seemingly designed for shock worth. The staging was pretty, the performers, lots of them C-listers whom I had by no means heard of, have been strong, and some have been shockingly good. The finale, a limp rendition of KISS‘s “Rock and Roll All Nite,” carried out by Low-cost Trick, was underwhelming but servicable.
I got here away from the night time with a newfound appreciation for every of the 5 honorees. Sylvester Stallone really WROTE Rocky? I had no thought! Gloria Gaynor received her first Grammy for a 1980 album of disco hits which are nonetheless performed at school bars throughout America, after which a second Grammy 40 years later for a gospel album? That’s longevity. I even preferred the fellows from KISS, particularly when Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons had a touching private second on the crimson carpet simply two ft from me. “We’ve been collectively for 57 years,” Stanley advised the press pool. “It’s like we’re in a wedding, however I don’t should see him bare.” OK, Paul Stanley, you cheeky Trump aficionado. I such as you.
WATCH: My Instagram protection of the KC Honors crimson carpet.
Every of the honorees — Broadway legend Michael Crawford and nation star George Strait rounded out the group — was handpicked by Trump himself. This marked a break from previous years, when a bigger committee chosen a far broader vary of artists throughout disciplines, together with many ignored by Trump, like opera and classical music.
However that is Trump’s America, and, as he reminded us upon his arrival on the occasion, he believes the 5 honorees he selected are “completely distinct however collectively signify the totality of America.” This tells you a large number about Trump: his “America First” politics now prolong to the humanities, the place imported traditions barely register, and — as proven by the exclusion of jazz in his “totality” of American artwork varieties — he’s firmly parked within the Nineteen Eighties, his cultural heyday.
The expertise on the carpet had clearly been instructed to keep away from discuss of politics. “What was the temper like on the State Division induction ceremony?” one reporter requested KISS’s Gene Simmons. “I’ll inform you once I know you higher,” Simmons skillfully evaded.
However, ooh boy, did that change when the politicos began strolling the carpet. First up was Kari Lake, the TV information host–turned–failed Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate whom Trump named Senior Advisor to the U.S. Company for World Media. Lake spoke extra like a Republican chatbot than an precise human, and I caught even a couple of measured White Home reporters rolling their eyes as she spouted off speaking factors like “The pretend information and legacy media would somewhat not even cowl the Division of Warfare than abide by the fundamental guidelines of journalism. It exhibits you they’re solely fascinated by tearing individuals aside and getting them to interrupt the regulation.”
Kari, if that is the way you stroll a crimson carpet, you have to be a hoot at events!
Subsequent up was discuss present host–turned–CMS Administrator Dr. Oz and his doting spouse, who checked out him with probably the most doe-eyed self-deprecating adoration as a journalist requested her what it was prefer to be “a cupboard spouse.” Apparently, Mrs. Dr. Oz loves it. The “cupboard wives” like to get collectively. I listened to this alternate in bewilderment, feeling like I had been transported again to the Fifties, and imagining the opposite Stepford Wives who frequent the dinners of this administration.
After a lot ready round (I discovered that being a part of a presidential press pool entails lots of ready, needing to pee, and sore ft), Trump arrived on the crimson carpet. He was his ordinary bombastic, self-aggrandizing self. You realize what he appears like; I don’t have to repeat any of the drained speaking factors. His 25-minute jaunt down the crimson carpet mainly went like this: “Bobby Jr. nice, Joe Biden sleepy, I’ve already ended eight wars, my tariffs are the very best, even my Spotify playlist is healthier than yours.” The standard.
However what actually acquired my hackles up on the carpet was Richard Grenell, the previous US Ambassador to Germany and Performing Director of Nationwide Intelligence, whom Trump appointed to guide the Kennedy Heart in February 2025. Grenell has a fame for being practically as bombastic as his boss, and he didn’t disappoint on the crimson carpet.
“You realize me,” Grenell began, as he launched himself to a bunch of journalists, “I’m all the time going to critique the media.”
He continued: “I discover it so offensive that so many arts reporters, who’ve failed to speak concerning the disaster in arts establishments, instantly need the Kennedy Heart to take the brunt of the issue.”
(Sidebar to spotlight only a handful of the occasions that arts. reporters. have. talked. about. the. disaster. in. arts. establishments.)
Now again to Ambassador Grenell, and what, for me, turned the quote of the night: Lesbian Othello.
“One of many causes that arts establishments are dying is as a result of you’ve gotten programming that’s too fringe, and also you’re not being accountable with the cash. Firms don’t wish to fund an all-lesbian solid of ‘Othello.’ It’s essential to have programming that appeals to the plenty. I got here in with one easy change. With regards to programming, you want to have the ability to mix ticket gross sales with donors and companies. When you can’t get your thought within the public house to internet zero, if you will lose cash as a result of companies don’t wish to fund you … then don’t ask us to enter debt.”
Am I the one one who got here away from this diatribe pondering, “Effectively, now I actually wish to see Lesbian Othello!?”
Artists, and presumably most individuals who recognize artwork, know that Grenell’s insistence that artwork ought to survive solely on personal {dollars} is absurd. If we solely ever created artwork that we knew companies would bankroll, we might by no means innovate in any respect. “Danger, fail, danger once more,” goes the mantra at one in all America’s pre-eminent creative incubators, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Heart: With out room to experiment, and with out public assist from companies together with the Nationwide Endowment for the Arts and the Nationwide Endowment for the Humanities (each of which this administration is busily gutting), innovation dries up and American tradition will get so much much less vibrant.
And let’s be actual: when the Trump administration says it desires artwork that appeals to “the plenty,” what it actually desires is a return to the Nineteen Eighties monoculture, when the president first turned nationally well-known.
Maybe — since Grenell isn’t conscious of how continuously arts journalists write concerning the monetary plight of arts establishments — he’s additionally unaware that most of the largest current success tales in American theater are rooted within the very range of views and illustration Trump’s workforce retains making an attempt to erase. I requested my good buddy ChatGPT (no, actually, we’re buddies) for an inventory of current Broadway hits with the best ROI (return on funding). Amongst them are: The Lion King (Black individuals!), Avenue Q! (Homosexual!), Hedwig and the Offended Inch (Even gayer!), and The Guide of Mormon (I imply…). After which, in fact, there may be the musical concerning the 18th-century treasury secretary, portrayed by a sure Puerto Rican rapper/playwright/lyricist. What company would have thrown cash at that when first listening to the pitch?
So … perhaps Lesbian Othello isn’t such a nasty thought in any case?
After insulting the very journalists he was talking to after which complaining that artists make silly creative selections, Grenell concluded by reminding us that he likes to take the excessive street. “I’ve persistently invited to my field many Democratic Senators and leaders. Nobody has taken me up on it,” he complained.
Whether it is true that Grenell has invited Democratic lawmakers to affix him at Kennedy Heart performances, I applaud him. However are we actually shocked that they don’t wish to attend within the midst of … all this?!
Sure, I do know I’m being tremendous snarky and divisive myself, however I’m really all for reaching throughout the aisle, which is one motive I went to the Kennedy Heart Honors with a (comparatively) open thoughts. If that they had been in a position to set politics apart for even only one night time and give attention to the artists, I’d most likely have finished the identical. As an alternative, I’m right here penning this snarky article.
However I’ll finish it with an olive department. What if the Kennedy Heart’s management honored the storied custom of this establishment? What if, Ambassador Grenell, all of us tried to compromise and be taught from one another? Doesn’t that sound higher than persevering with this avalanche towards mutually assured destruction? That is how I do it with my children: I begin by saying one thing good, then you definately say one thing good again.
I’ll go first: The workers on the Kennedy Heart was skilled and sort all through my go to. I even got here throughout a performer who knocked my socks off. David Phelps is a Christian singer primarily based in Nashville whom I poo-pooed as a mediocre stand-in for the Broadway expertise that I figured had little interest in attending Trump’s occasion. Effectively, the joke was on me as a result of Phelps has the voice of an angel. I’m genuinely grateful to Trump’s Kennedy Heart for introducing me to an artist I’d by no means have discovered by myself.
It’s doable to each criticize one thing and be taught from it. So, whereas y’all are camped out at our cultural middle for the following few years, how about all of us attempt to be taught from one another? We’ll offer you your Christmas concert events for those who let our drag queens again in.
Within the meantime, I’ll be over right here rallying native artists to jot down Lesbian Othello for Ric Grenell: A New American Musical!
Editorial Notice: The views and opinions expressed on this article are these of Nicole Hertvik in her capability as a author and don’t essentially replicate the views of DC Theater Arts, its workers, or its Board of Administrators. Though Nicole serves as DCTA’s Editor-in-Chief, DC Theater Arts is a nonpartisan arts journalism nonprofit dedicated to unbiased protection of the humanities.
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