Gay Trump administration toady Richard Grenell has stepped down as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and on his way out, he blew up at a senator who accused him of “looting” the once-revered institution.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) shared a Washington Post article on social media that said Grenell’s departure, after just one year in the role, will be “ending a turbulent tenure marked by staff departures, artist cancellations, and plummeting ticket sales.” The article also noted that the Trump administration will close the center for two years of renovations starting on July 4.

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“Like a mob bust-out gone wrong, Trumpsters’ looting of the Kennedy Center has put it out of business, and now it needs to be ‘closed for renovations’ as cover-up,” Whitehouse wrote in his social media post sharing the article link. “No surprise [Grenell is] being replaced.”

In response, Grenell accused Whitehouse of ignoring renovation needs and a budget shortfall that allegedly occurred under the center’s previous leadership.

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“Your buffoonery knows no limits,” Grenell wrote. “You sat silent while the place went into total disrepair. You sat silent while the staff was paid with monies designed to pay off the future $30 million loan coming due in 2030 because there was no money in the bank to pay salaries. You sat silent while corporations left because of the hard left woke programming.”

Grenell’s reference to “hard left woke programming” refers to the Trump administration’s claim that the center’s past programming showcased “drag shows specifically targeting our youth” and “anti-American propaganda.” But the following year, under Grenell, the center’s show lineup included numerous drag performances in such shows as Chicago, Mrs. Doubtfire, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, and Spamalot.

While Grenell claimed that corporations abandoned the center due to its past programming, under his leadership, ticket sales for the Kennedy Center’s three largest performance venues are the worst they’ve been in years, with tens of thousands of seats left empty since Trump’s takeover.

Grenell has also presided over multiple cancellations by high-profile artists who had been scheduled to perform at the center, including singer Issa Rae, Pulitzer Prize winner Rhiannon Giddens, Peter Wolf, Low Cut Connie, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C., and Grammy-winning folk artist Béla Fleck. Last June, Lin-Manuel Miranda pulled the entire Kennedy Center run of the historical musical Hamilton from the venue’s lineup. 

Nevertheless, Grenell wrote to Whitehouse, “We fixed it. And we are doing the right thing to close the entire place in a few weeks to renovate it – because of your years of neglect. This Washington game of kicking the can down the road and never solving problems has ended with President Trump. It doesn’t matter what you or the New York Times or CNN says. We are fixing the place that YOU ruined. It becomes a construction site for two years because you failed to keep up with the maintenance. And we have a world-class construction leader to do it the right way. You are welcome.”

Grenell will be replaced by Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of facilities operations. Grenell will reportedly stay involved with the center as an unpaid consultant, according to Axios.

Trump, who attached his name to the center last year even though such a renaming requires an act of Congress, pledged to shut down the center for two years for “construction, revitalization, and complete rebuilding” into a “new and spectacular entertainment complex.” Last year, Congress approved $257 million for the reconstruction.

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