Patti LuPone Makes Fiery Speech From Carnegie Hall Stage Urging Protection Of Kennedy Center From Donald Trump

1 week ago 13

Patti LuPone brought her Carnegie Hall concert to a close last night — and the New York audience to its feet — with a fervent call to protect the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. from President Donald Trump.

After a two-hour show that included virtually no off-the-cuff political remarks between songs devoted to love, LuPone, in a flowing blue gown, directly addressed the audience during her good-nights.

After saying she was filled with anger over recent news from “the buffoon,” the Agatha All Along star and three-time Tony winner raised her considerable voice to say: “This is now about the Kennedy Center. It’s time for us — it’s over time for us! — to rise up and speak.” Urging everyone in the audience to take to social media “or however you can to get the information out” that Trump “cannot! cannot! cannot! touch the Kennedy Center!”

“I’m sorry but I’m so mad,” she continued. “This actually strikes close to home because art is the soul of the nation. And think about it, when was the last time you heard the words ‘art’ and ‘culture’ in a conversation in this country? We have to speak up again. We have to elevate it, and one of the ways we’re going to elevate it is to keep the buildings standing.”

Trump, who took over the Kennedy Center last year installing his own picks for the institution’s board and putting his own name on the building to read “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” recently announced that he was shutting down the center for two years for renovations. Critics of the administration suggest the real reason is the Center’s much-publicized artist cancellations and a dearth of programming.

While rumors spread that the president would simply demolish the structure — as he did with the White House East Wing — he insisted on Monday that he was not planning a tear-down, though his assurances won’t exactly be heartening to Kennedy Center supporters.

“I’m not ripping it down,” Trump told reporters Monday. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure, we’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down.”