Hamilton has canceled a run at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, scheduled to kick off this spring in light of the “recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center [that] flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents.”
In a lengthy statement posted to Hamilton’s social media channels on Wednesday, producer Jeffrey Seller acknowledged that, “Political disagreement and debate are vital expressions of democracy. These basic concepts of freedom are at the very heart of Hamilton. However, Seller added, “some institutions are sacred and should be protected from politics. The Kennedy Center is one such institution.”
“The Kennedy Center was founded over 50 years ago with a sincere bipartisan spirit,” Seller continued. “Indeed, it was founded during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower, named after President John F. Kennedy, and opened in 1971 under the administration of Richard M. Nixon. The Kennedy Center was meant to be for all Americans, a place where we could all come together in celebration of the arts. Politics have never affected the presentation of thousands of shows and the display of extraordinary visual arts.”
“However, in recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed,” Seller added. “The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents. This spirit of nonpartisanship ended on February 7, 2025, with the firing of Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, the Chairman of the Board David Rubenstein, and numerous other Kennedy Center board members, as well as the cancellation of important programming. These actions bring a new spirit of partisanship to the national treasure that is the Kennedy Center.”
Hamilton had been scheduled to run at the Kennedy Center from March 3rd, 2025 to April 26th, 2026. However, Seller has now concluded that, “Given these recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.”
Seller stressed that his decision to cancel Hamilton’s run was not an act of protest against the Trump Administration, as the show was previously staged at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during Trump’s first term. Instead, it’s an act “against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.”
Also factoring into Seller’s decision was the apparent possibility that the new Trump-appointed board of the Kennedy Center might cancel Hamilton’s performances anyway. “Hamilton is a large and global production, and it would simply be financially and personally devastating to the hundreds of employees of Hamilton if the new leadership of the Kennedy Center suddenly cancelled or re-negotiated our engagement,” he explained. “The actions of the new Chairman of the Board in recent weeks demonstrate that contracts and previous agreements simply cannot be trusted. This is sad, because basic integrity and the rule of law have long been great American principles that help serve as a foundation for our Nation.”
“Regardless of the political climate, I have always felt at home at The Kennedy Center, and I am grateful for every person who has spent the last 50 years making it a beacon of nonpartisanship and celebration,” Seller wrote to conclude his statement. “But we cannot presently support an institution that has been forced by external forces to betray its mission as a national cultural center that fosters the free expression of art in The United States of America.”