Donald Trump greeted by drag queens and boos at first Kennedy Center appearance for ‘Les Misérables’

12 June, 2025

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at the Kennedy Center on June 11, 2025

Donald Trump has been greeted by drag queens and booed during his first visit to the Kennedy Center since installing himself as chairman of the centre.

Back in February, the US President was elected as chairman of the centre. He announced his plans to change the venue’s programming and remove several members of the board of trustees. He also told reporters at the time he would put an end to what he viewed as “woke” productions taking place.

The decision led to the cancellation of the children’s musical Finn, as well as an upcoming performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C. The former was said to be scrapped due to financial issues but others have questioned that reason, as both shows have LGBTQ+ themes that have been targeted by the Trump Administration.

Artistic adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra, Ben Folds, resigned amid Trump taking charge of the performing arts centre, saying the changes were “not for me”, and chairman David Rubenstein was among those removed from the board of trustees as he did “not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture” (via Rolling Stone).

Now, Trump has made his first appearance at the iconic venue since the overhaul, attending yesterday (Wednesday June 11) to see a performance of Les Misérables. It comes as he has previously declared the musical to be his personal favourite.

During the visit, the President was met with protests from drag queens and there were boos from the audience upon his arrival.

As per Consequence, half of the Les Misérables cast boycotted the performance in protest of Trump. Find footage from the event above.

As well as half of the Les Mis cast not showing up for last night’s show, earlier this year it was reported that the producers of the musical Hamilton had cancelled their production at The Kennedy Center, due to President Donald Trump taking control of the venue.

“Political disagreement and debate are vital expressions of democracy. These basic concepts of freedom are at the very heart of Hamilton. However, some institutions are sacred and should be protected from politics. The Kennedy Center is one such institution,” the show’s producer Jeffrey Seller wrote in a press release.

“The Kennedy Center was meant to be for all Americans, a place where we could all come together in celebration of the arts. Politics have never affected the presentation of thousands of shows and the display of extraordinary visual arts,” he added. “However, in recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed. The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national cultural centre represents.”

“Given these recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center,” Seller concluded. “Therefore, we have cancelled the third engagement of Hamilton at the Kennedy Center, originally scheduled for March 3-April 26, 2026”.

The performance would have been the third for the show at the centre.

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