Reactions mounted Friday over President Donald Trump's Kennedy Center takeover as ticket sales dive.
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts is experiencing a ticket sales collapse not seen since the year following the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, it's actually much worse, according to a Washington Post report published Friday.
Social media users reacted to the news:
"1) Take over Kennedy Center 2) Lose gobs of money (——> You are here)3) Book 6 Month Lee Greenwood Residency4) Make attendance mandatory under Federal law," NPR's Peter Sagal wrote on Bluesky.
"An excuse for Trump to tear down the Kennedy Center and build a Trump Center," Michael McDonald, political science professor at the University of Florida specializing in American elections, wrote on Bluesky.
"Now, Kennedy Center ticket sales are collapsing under politicized leadership. This is what happens when public culture is captured and hollowed out," Andrew Weinstein, former United States Public Delegate to United Nations and appointee under the Obama and Biden administrations, wrote on Bluesky.
"When Trump took over the Kennedy Center, his team accused it of not selling enough tickets and vowed to make it 'hot.' Instead, ticket sales under Trump have plummeted to their worst in years," Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times and MSNBC analyst, wrote on Bluesky.
"Add to this, tourism is down, business activity is down. Our capitol city is not flourishing," New York Times journalist and CNN contributor Lulu Garcia-Navarro wrote on X.
"It turns out that nobody wants to go to the Trump-Grenell Kennedy Center," Christopher Wiggins, senior national reporter for The Advocate, wrote on X.
"So much winning!! Kennedy Center ticket sales have plummeted since Trump takeover," attorney and former public defender Frank Amari wrote on Bluesky.
"One thing about the Kennedy Center is the DC area has tons of other options for venues and stage shows, they're not the only joint in town. It's a pretty easy substitution if you don't want your night out to have him looming over it," the Unpopulist's Andy Craig, an expert on election law and electoral reform, wrote on Bluesky.
"Nothing new here. Everything he touches, dies," writer Diane Strickland wrote on Bluesky.