Why did ‘Hamilton’ producers pull the show from Kennedy Center? All you need to know

The Hamilton production has officially announced that they will not be performing at the Kennedy Center.

The decision was made in protest of the actions taken by the center and the head of the venue's board of trustees, who was declared to be the US President in February.

The Instagram account of Hamilton posted a statement, making their intentions of not performing at the Kennedy Center clear.

The statement read:

"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 Kennedy Center was founded over 50 years ago with a sincere bipartisan spirit. Indeed, it was founded during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower, named after President John F. Kennedy, and opened in 1971 under the administration of Richard M. Nixon.

"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."

It continued:

"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 center represents.

"This spirit of nonpartisanship ended on February 7, 2025, with the firing of Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, the Chairman of the Board David Rubenstein, and numerous other Kennedy Center board members, as well as the cancellation of important programming.

"These actions bring a new spirit of partisanship to the national treasure that is the Kennedy Center. 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.

"Therefore, we have cancelled the third engagement of Hamilton at the Kennedy Center, originally scheduled for March 3-April 26, 2026."

The statement added:

"Hamilton was proudly performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during the first Trump administration. We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.

"Our cancellation is also a business decision. Hamilton is a large and global production, and it would simply be financially and personally devastating to the hundreds of employees of Hamilton if the new leadership of the Kennedy Center suddenly cancelled or re-negotiated our engagement.

"The actions of the new Chairman of the Board in recent weeks demonstrate that contracts and previous agreements simply cannot be trusted. This is sad, because basic integrity and the rule of law have long been great American principles that help serve as a foundation for our Nation.

"I have personally loved the Kennedy Center since touring it as a seventh grader in 1977 along with the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. I watched the first Kennedy Center Honors in 1978.

"Regardless of the political climate, I have always felt at home at The Kennedy Center, and I am grateful for every person who has spent the last 50 years making it a beacon of nonpartisanship and celebration.

"But we cannot presently support an institution that has been forced by external forces to betray its mission as a national cultural center that fosters the free expression of art in The United States of America," conculded the statement.

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Brief explanation of cause of the protest

The US President declared his plans to alter the center's programming and fire a number of board of trustees members when he was elected chairman in February. At the time, he informed reporters that he would put an end to what he considered to be "woke" productions.

The Kennedy Center recently announced the cancellation of both a forthcoming concert by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C., and its planned tour of their children's musical Finn. Both series have LGBTQ+ themes that have been targeted by the Trump administration, even if the earlier cancelation was explained as a "financial decision."

After making its Broadway debut in 2015, Hamilton has gained international acclaim, catapulting its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda to prominence and inspiring performances worldwide, including a live broadcast on Disney+. In its five-star review, NME called the production a "brilliant and daring musical" that "changed the game."