The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. The venue originally announced plans for the yearlong celebration in July 2024, noting the return of Hamilton to the prestigious stage. But that was before Donald Trump was elected for a second term as president and decided to gut the Kennedy Center in favor of declaring himself chairman. Not wanting his story to be part of this narrative, Lin-Manuel Miranda has canceled the scheduled Hamilton run.
“This latest action by Trump means it’s not the Kennedy Center as we knew it,” Miranda said in a joint interview with Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller, per the New York Times. “The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center. We’re just not going to be part of it.”
Hamilton was previously performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during Trump’s first term and initially scheduled to return in 2020 before pandemic-related cancelations took effect. “We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover,” Seller wrote in a statement.
Since Trump removed Deborah Rutter as Kennedy Center president to instate Richard Grenell and replaced David Rubenstein as chairman, the sanctity of the center has been disrupted, said Seller, who described the shake-up as an end to “the spirit of nonpartisanship.”
He added, “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.”
Seller also noted concern that, even if they were to proceed with the performances scheduled for March 3 through April 26, 2026, they would be taking a major risk. “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,” he said. “The actions of the new Chairman of the Board in recent weeks demonstrate that contracts and previous agreements simply cannot be trusted.”
The Hamilton cancellation marks the latest entry in a wave of members of the arts putting distance between their work and Trump. Issa Rae cancelled a sold-out show citing “an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums.” Ben Folds stepped down as artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra. Opera singer and actress Renée Fleming left her role as artistic advisor at large and Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy and the Kennedy Center board’s treasurer, also resigned.
“It became untenable for us to participate in an organization that had become so deeply politicized,” Seller said in his interview with Miranda. “The Kennedy Center is for all of us, and it pains me deeply that they took it over and changed that. They said it’s not for all of us. It’s just for Donald Trump and his crowd. So we made a decision we can’t do it.”
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