His dinner jacket will be at the cleaners
Don is a no-show for the Kennedy Center awards this year, and he’s not throwing the usual White House party to celebrate it, either.
Past presidents and first ladies have hosted a reception for those given awards at the White House before the gala at the nearby Kennedy Center and sat with them at the televised event.
Two of the five stars due to receive the awards in art, music, dance, film, television and culture on 2 December, TV producer Norman Lear and dancer and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade, had already indicated they would boycott the reception the next day at the White House.
De Lavallade said: “In light of the socially divisive and morally caustic narrative that our current leadership is choosing to engage in, and in keeping with the principles that I and so many others have fought for, I will be declining the invitation to attend the reception at the White House.”
“Morally caustic” – that’s a good characterization.
Jimmy Carter, George HW Bush and Bill Clinton have all failed to attend due to presidential duties, but never due to a boycott by those being given awards.
Barack Obama received a standing ovation at last year’s event, held just after Trump’s election but before his inauguration. But there was unease among the arts community about whether they would turn up in 2017 if the new president was in attendance.
The Kennedy Center confirmed that this year’s White House reception would now not take place, although the awards themselves and gala celebration would still happen. The Center respected the president’s decision, which had ensured the gala “remains a deservingly special moment for the honorees”, chairman David M Rubenstein and president Deborah F Rutter said in a statement. “We are grateful for this gesture.”
Oh, that’s got to sting. That’s a frank “thank you for staying away.”
Trump ignited the most serious controversy over racism since his election campaign this week, with Republicans, business leaders, charities, sports stars and artists all denouncing him after he suggested that neo-Nazis whose protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to the death of a 32-year-old woman were morally equivalent to the anti-fascist activists opposing them.
The entire membership of the president’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities, appointed by Barack Obama, resigned on Friday in a letter that featured an acrostic spelling out the word “RESIST”.
I missed that when I blogged it yesterday. First letter of each paragraph.
The statement by the White House press secretary announcing the Trumps would not take part did not mention Charlottesville. But it said: “The president and first lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction.”
And since that explanation is unprecedented, it means they’re admitting there’s something special about this particular “political distraction.” What could that be? Could it be something to do with the fact that most people don’t like seeing the US president flattering white supremacists and abusing people who oppose them?
Trump wouldn’t have managed the Kennedy Center ceremony, anyway. It is about honoring people other than him. People other than him would be the center of attention.
I suspect that’s why he’s so hostile to the arts. He is not himself an artist. Artists tend to be disrespectful of those in power. Artists are often opposed to rampant consumerism, and they also tend to recognize that excessive gold plating is distasteful (though small amounts of it can be used tastefully if done by someone with an artistic talent).
And Republicans in general seem to be suspicious of the arts. That could be the fact that art, theatre, literature, and poetry are often done for their own sake, and even when done commercially often do not lead to enormous riches (in fact, most people doing art have to have a day job just to buy the groceries and pay the rent).