A musician who reached out to Kennedy Center Interim Executive Director Richard Grenell received a chaotic response when she questioned the DEI practices after President Donald Trump accused the Kennedy Center of being “too woke.”
Guitar player Yasmin Williams recently reached out to Grenell with some questions regarding the direction that the Kennedy Center is taking due to concerns that others have brought up recently regarding Trump firing everyone on the Board of Directors, The Guardian reports. The genuine concern focused on what changes can be expected at the center. After getting a response that wasn’t exactly professional nor courteous, Williams posted the exchange on social media for the world to see.
Her initial email started with her explaining the purpose of the email as she stated that “most folks seem to be placing the blame on the President for [degrading] the formerly prestigious institution.” She tells the interim executive director that many people in the area will no longer support the center while Trump is in office.
She posed two legitimate questions to Grenell: “Does the President actually care about artists cancelling shows at the Kennedy Center? What, if anything, has changed about the Kennedy Center regarding hiring practices, performance booking, and staffing?”
Grenell’s response: “Let me ask you this question, would you play for Republicans or would you boycott if Republicans came to your show?”
Assuring Grenell that she is sure she has performed in front of Republicans before, asking what that had to do with the questions asked in the email.
Grenell: “Every single person who canceled a show did so because they couldn’t be in the presence of republicans. We didn’t fire a single show. We don’t cancel a single show. You shouldn’t believe what you read in the newspapers who exist to hate Republicans.”
Williams then acknowledged what he wrote but asked two questions that were focused on what she initially asked in terms of the direction that the Kennedy Center is heading in.
“Is the Kennedy Center negatively affected by the artists who are canceling shows? What, if anything,f has changed about the Kennedy Center regarding hiring practices, performance booking, and staffing?” she wrote.
After responding that Kennedy Center is not making any money and has “zero in the bank,” and fundraising has been “atrocious,” he blames the shortcomings on DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion).
“The programs are so woke that they haven’t made money. Yes, I cut the DEI bullshit because we can’t afford to pay people for fringe and niche programming that the public won’t support. Yes, I cut the people making over $500k a year because we are in debt. Yes, we are doing programming for the masses in order to pay our bills.”
After reminding her that she contacted him “unsolicited,” he tells her, “Don’t be a victim now.”
Her last response to him was:
“Thanks for your responses! I would request that you re-read my original email since you seem to be extremely defensive and rude for no reason. I never accused you of being intolerant… I don’t know you. I was relaying what others have said regarding the Kennedy Center and I asked my own questions. I’m honestly shocked at how unprofessional your emails are, but I guess that’s par for the course these days, on both sides of the political aisle.”
The post ended with the last response with no details about if he responded to the last email.
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