lin manuel miranda refuses to perform at the kennedy center due to trump renaming it

"The Kennedy Center has always been a historical place for the performing arts. It is known for its displays of art including, theatre, broadway, dance, jazz, hip hop and more. But recently, President Donald Trump has renamed The Kennedy Center the Trump Kennedy Center."-- Adela Orozco, 6th grade

The Kennedy Center has always been a historical place for the performing arts. It is known for its displays of art including, theatre, broadway, dance, jazz, hip hop and more. But recently, President Donald Trump has renamed The Kennedy Center the Trump Kennedy Center. Many artists' have responded to this by cancelling their scheduled performances. In March 2025 Hamilton, the award-winning musical production led by Lin-Manuel Miranda, was one of the first performances to cancel their performance. 

One of the reasons people were upset with this new name is because historically Donald Trump had not been a fan of people of color or a fan of people of the LGBTQ+ community. “The Kennedy Center was founded as a political home for free artistic expression for artists of all nationalities and ideologies,” says Steven Schwartz, the composer of Wicked.  

In an interview with Out Magazine, Lin-Manuel Miranda says, “We were just not going to participate if we had the option not to. It was a very easy decision for us not to participate in what that's becoming,” Hamilton has always been a political show, and Lin Manuel Miranda has been a political artist. Lin Manuel Miranda is definitely not a fan of Trump, neither is Jeffrey Sellers, the producer of Hamilton. They both wanted to act against the policies that are being formed due to this new takeover. “ Hamilton was proudly performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during the first Trump Administration. We are not acting against his administration but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.” Sellers said. 

After Miranda's announcement Richard Grenell, President Trump's “envoy for Special Missions” and the newly appointed Kennedy Center president, responded by saying that, “Lin-Manuel Miranda is intolerant of people who don’t agree with him politically.” He concluded by adding that they (Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeffrey Sellers) “don't want Republicans going to their shows.” 

For real Hamilton fans though, this doesn’t seem to be affecting their opinions. Vanessa Schulte a Literary Arts 6th Grader at OSA said that it will not change a lot for Hamilton and the audiences that go to it. “I don’t think it will change a lot because if you were already a fan then you would probably know how liberal he was.” 

This is not the first time that ‘Hamilton’ has stood up against the Trump administration.
In 2016 November 18th, Mike Pence showed up at a show of ‘Hamilton ’ and got booed. Brandon Victor Dixon, the actor for Aaron Burr gave a speech saying, “ We sir- we are the diverse community of America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us.” 
He continues, “ Our planet, our children, our parents or defend us and uphold our indelible rights, sir. But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American Values and to work on behalf of all of us, all of us.”  Applause followed then after. 

After Hamilton withdrew from the Trump Kennedy Center, more artists started to change their performances to different places or even cancel their shows completely. Issa Rae, an American Actress and writer canceled her show in March, and shortly after, Bela Fleck, a banjo player then cancelled his performance. On January 16th The Martha Graham Dance Company also said that they would not be performing their show at the Kennedy Center. 

Amara Deanes, an OSA 8th Grader in Literary Arts thinks that artists should be able to take social and or political stands, “I think artists should take stands, but not be forced to. Many fans with para-social relationships with artists might rely on their favorite singer's position for their vote. If someone decides not to speak out, they will often be slammed for it. They are already micro-managed, and their stances should not be too closely examined. They should not fear speaking out.”

Schulte says,“ YES, artists personally communicate in a way the world loves and if many artists continue to take these stands and persuade people in ways of diligence and beauty, it could make the world a better place.”

But, some artists have decided to continue to perform even if they are not in support of what Trump's doing.  For example, Ms Doubtfire, The Outsider and the National Symphony Orchestra are still performing at the Kennedy Center.

On Sunday, Feb. 1st, Trump announced that the Kennedy Center would be closed for two years so they can perform construction on it. He said that it would be, “without question the finest performing arts facility of its kind, anywhere in the world.” In a CNN opinion piece, Zeeshan Aleem says that, “The Washington Post is keeping a running list of cancellations, and it is not short.” Aleem thinks that the real reason they are closing the Kennedy Center is because of the many boycotts from would-be performers.