Following Donald Trump’s hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in February, ticket sales at the revered institution have plummeted.

Sales of subscriptions for the coming season of programming at the venue are down by roughly 36 percent overall compared with last year.

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Trump promised “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS” at Kennedy Center. Their new season is full of drag.
At least four plays at the Kennedy Center will feature actors in drag just after Trump promised that drag at the Kennedy Center “WILL STOP.”

Single-ticket sales were down roughly 50 percent in April and May, compared with the same period in 2024, according to the data.

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Subscriptions for theater performances, the genre President Trump has taken the most interest in in his new role as chairman of the institution, took the biggest hit, with sales down a whopping 82 percent.

Trump said earlier this year that his takeover of the venue would usher in a new “Golden Age in Arts and Culture” and called previous programming at the center “woke.”

“Ticket buyers, subscribers, and donors have spoken with their wallets,” a staffer who confirmed the data told the Washington Post. “Not against a Republican being in charge, but against the hostile takeover of their performing arts center.”

Shortly after Trump purged the Kennedy Center board and installed himself as chair, Vice President JD Vance was booed mercilessly when he attended a performance at the venue in March.

“You ruined this place!” one attendee shouted at Vance.

The sales data was shared by former Kennedy Center staffers and confirmed by a current employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

“We understand providing information like this can be seen in a bad light,” the staffer said in a message. “But we feel that it is necessary to show that mismanagement by the new leadership is becoming a real problem for the health of the organization.”

The employee said that, because the new regime has disregarded staff opinion and fired some of those who have questioned their decisions, “we feel that we no longer have a choice but to force complete transparency with the public.”

In February, Trump announced he would fire the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees and install himself as chair. He named loyal gay staffer Ric Grenell, briefly Trump’s acing director of national intelligence in his first term, to run the Kennedy Center and promised “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA.”

At a White House dinner hosted by Trump for his new Kennedy Center board in May, Grenell brought the drama with his description of the center’s deferred maintenance and budget deficit as “criminal.” He vowed to refer the matter to federal prosecutors.

Trump will attend a gala fund-raiser performance of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center next week to celebrate his takeover of the venue, ahead of a massive military parade commemorating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army that coincides with his birthday.

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