“The opening scene in the story of President Trump’s takeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a flashback to August 2017, months into his first term as president,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Soon after the national cultural center named five luminaries as recipients of its annual Kennedy Center Honors, the new president came under attack over his response to deadly violence at a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
”“Three of the 2017 honorees—Lionel Richie, TV legend Norman Lear and dancer Carmen de Lavallade—told the center they would refuse to attend the customary White House reception held before a star-studded ceremony of performances and tributes, people involved in that year’s program said. The trio indicated they didn’t want to meet the president.”
Daily Beast: Trump wants Kennedy Center to lavish MAGA-loyal artists with honors.