June 24, 2025 09:42 AM UTC

Hickenlooper Master Trolls Trump's Censored Kennedy Center

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim reports, Washington is abuzz this morning after a group of Democratic U.S. Senators led by Colorado’s Sen. John Hickenlooper pulled off a protest concert inside the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which was taken over by the Trump administration soon after taking power, after Donald Trump personally objected to the content featured there during previous administrations:

Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper led a one-night takeover of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Monday night to celebrate Pride month, in defiance of the Center’s move away from what President Trump has called “woke” programming.

The concert, titled “Love is Love,” featured Broadway artists and was produced by Jeffrey Seller, who has been behind shows such as “Hamilton,” “Avenue Q” and “Rent.”

…Performers sang numbers from musicals ranging from “Oklahoma” to “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and gave readings from playwrights like Tony Kushner and Harvey Fierstein.

Seller said the Kennedy Center belongs to all Americans, regardless of their political beliefs, but the Trump Administration “took it away when they fired the professional CEO. They took it away when they fired the nonpartisan chairman of the board” and cancelled LGBTQ-positive performances.

The New York Times was equally bedazzled:

“What’s happening in the world is deeply concerning, but even in our darkest hours, we must continue to seek out the light,” Mr. Hickenlooper said in a statement. “The L.G.B.T.Q. community has long embodied this resilience, maintaining joy and creativity in the face of adversity.”

…The senators, who exercised a prerogative extended to members of Congress to rent space in the center, chose this week for the event because June has long been when supporters of the gay community have celebrated Pride Month.

Mr. Trump, in a departure from previous presidents, has not acknowledged Pride Month, and some of his actions in recent months have prompted concern in the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Since his takeover of the center, several groups have canceled events there, saying they no longer feel welcome. [Pols emphasis]

Sneaking this event into the Kennedy Center under the puritanical eyes of the Trump administration did require some well-intentioned subterfuge:

Mr. Hickenlooper said four other Democratic senators were hosting Monday’s event with him: Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. They rented the Justice Forum, a 144-seat lecture hall in the Reach, part of a recent Kennedy Center expansion project, without disclosing the purpose. [Pols emphasis]

As one would expect, Trump’s man at the Kennedy Center Richard Grenell, who himself happens to be gay but never lets that get in the way of conservative policies to oppress persons of similar identity, sniveled in response to indisputably losing the daily news cycle:

In a statement Monday, Grenell called the senators’ performance “a political stunt.”

“We welcome everyone who wants to celebrate the arts, including our compatriots on the other side of the political aisle. We especially welcome artists and audience members who come to the Kennedy Center not for partisan political pranks but to experience excellence in the performing arts,” Grenell said.

Of course, none of this would be happening were it not for Trump’s takeover and ideological remake of the Center’s event schedule that Grenell himself presided over. There’s no amount of carping after the fact that can overcome the much bigger impression made by pulling off this protest concert inside the arts complex that Trump wants to micromanage like the infamous Carter White House tennis courts.

These are the moments history remembers after repressive eras end, and this one belongs to Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado.