Gay Trump administration official Ric Grenell is raging over the latest performer to withdraw from the Kennedy Center’s lineup after the president named the once-revered cultural institution after himself in December.

Béla Fleck, the 18-time Grammy-winning folk artist, pulled the plug on his appearance with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) on Tuesday, citing a “charged” political atmosphere following Trump’s takeover of the venue.

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“I have withdrawn from my upcoming performance with the NSO at The Kennedy Center. Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music,” Fleck said in a statement.” I look forward to playing with the NSO another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art.”

Grenell blasted Fleck in response, mocking the artist’s explanation and accusing him of the very same behavior that’s undermined the center’s mission since Trump took charge.

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“You just made it political and caved to the woke mob who wants you to perform for only Lefties,” Grenell posted to X.

“This mob pressuring you will never be happy until you only play for Democrats. The Trump Kennedy Center believes all people are welcome – Democrats and Republicans and people uninterested in politics. We want performers who aren’t political – who simply love entertaining everyone regardless of who they voted for,” Grenell continued.

Grenell posted his screed about Fleck on Tuesday, just an hour before reposting the same post again.

Like Trump, Grenell spends his time in his official capacity leading the arts institution denouncing the previous “regime” with claims it left the Kennedy Center in a shambles.

Fleck was clear that it’s the president and his followers who have imposed the politics on the formerly bipartisan arts institution.

“It has become less and less a musically and artistically based situation and more of a highly politicized and divisive one,” Fleck told The New York Times. “This pushes against the deepest motivations of why I want to be a musician.”

Among other artists to cancel at the Kennedy Center are singer Issa Rae, Pulitzer Prize winner Rhiannon Giddens, Peter Wolf, Low Cut Connie, and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C.

In June, Lin-Manuel Miranda pulled the entire Kennedy Center run of the historical musical Hamilton from the venue’s lineup. Grenell accused the producers of “working with Democratic Senators and the New York Times to boycott the Kennedy Center, refusing to perform for audience members who don’t share their personal politics, and cosplay as victims of intolerance.”

In another X attack on a user highlighting the wave of withdrawals under the Trump loyalist’s watch, Grenell called the cancellations “old news.”

“The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far-left leadership. Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far-left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political beliefs. Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome. The arts are for everyone and the left is mad about it,” Grenell whined.

In December, Grenell announced the so-called Trump-Kennedy Center is suing jazz artist Chuck Redd for breach of contract after Redd withdrew from a New Year’s Eve show. Grenell called Redd a nobody and asked for $1 million in damages.

Grenell has become increasingly unhinged since Senate Democrats announced an investigation in November into his leadership of the center, where ticket sales have plummeted since Trump’s takeover.

“Contracts, invoices, and facility use agreements reveal that you operate the Center for the enrichment of your friends and acquaintances, to dole out political favors, and as a playground for the President of the United States and his allies,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) wrote in a letter to Grenell informing him of the investigation. 

“The Center is being looted to the tune of millions of dollars in foregone revenue, cancelled programming, unpaid use of its facilities, and wasteful spending on luxury restaurants and hotels — an unprecedented pattern of self-dealing, favoritism, and waste,” Whitehouse wrote.  

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