Patti LuPone Comments On Trump Admin During Interview
In an era where Broadway legends and national institutions collide with political upheaval, the recent remarks from theatre icon Patti LuPone have ignited a firestorm.
The three-time Tony Award-winning actress, revered for her powerhouse performances in Evita and Gypsy, didn’t just raise eyebrows — she scorched the very foundation of Washington’s most iconic cultural venue, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In an interview with The New Yorker, LuPone unleashed a blistering critique, reportedly stating that the Kennedy Center “should get blown up.” This isn’t her first verbal sledgehammer. Back in 2017, when asked if she would perform for then-President Trump, she retorted with memorable venom: “Because I hate the mother***er, how’s that?”
Her recent tirade comes in the wake of a seismic shift in the Kennedy Center’s leadership. Earlier this year, President Trump, in a sweeping act of executive housecleaning, expelled the Biden-appointed management and reshaped the board with his own picks — installing himself as chairman.
The move drew sharp criticism and intense scrutiny, not least because of Trump’s damning commentary on the Center’s alleged financial mismanagement. “I don’t know where they spent it,” he quipped. “They certainly didn’t spend it on wallpaper, carpet, or painting.”
But finances were only part of the problem. Trump’s newly appointed Kennedy Center President, Ric Grenell, went further, condemning the previous programming as rife with “rampant political propaganda.”
He cited controversial performances, including a “Marxist anti-police” show and what he described as “Lesbian-only Shakespeare,” branding them as emblematic of a cultural agenda disconnected from the broader American public.
Grenell’s vision for the Kennedy Center pivots dramatically. “You’ve got to be at the Kennedy Center in December,” he said, promising a grand, traditional celebration of Christ’s birth — an overt nod to religious and cultural heritage he suggests was previously neglected.
In response to LuPone’s incendiary comments, Grenell fired back: “The far left has morphed into violent extremists. This is completely unacceptable — from the same people who claim to be for tolerance and diversity.”