Hamilton was due to stage its third run at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center between March 3 and April 26, 2026.
However, a statement from Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller said the award-winning musical would not now visit the National Cultural Center in the nation’s capital as planned due to a “a new culture … being imposed on the Kennedy Center.”
Seller cited the new Trump administration’s replacement of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees as evidence of unprecedented political interference. Seemingly taking aim at Trump, he also expressed concern that the centre’s new regime could re-negotiate or cancel their engagement.
“Political disagreement and debate are vital expressions of democracy,” Seller said in a statement, shared to the official Hamilton X page. “These basic concepts of freedom are at the very heart of Hamilton. However, some institutions are sacred and should be protected from politics. The Kennedy Center is one such institution.”
Folk musician Rhiannon Giddens and The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C. are among others to cancel events at the Kennedy Center since Trump was appointed chairman in February.
Musk and Grenell hit back
While the Trump administration’s changes at the Kennedy Center have led to a series of resignations and cancellations over the last month, Seller’s announcement was not universally backed on social media.
X owner Musk, a leading figure in the Trump administration, amplified the words of one respondent who claimed that Seller was only “pretending that the Kennedy Center was not highly politicized before Trump 2.0 took office… You love politicization, so long as it is the right kind of politicization.” Musk replied “Exactly” to that post.
“This is a publicity stunt that will backfire,” said the Kennedy Center’s new president, Ric Grenell, widely considered a Trump loyalist. “The arts are for everyone – not just for the people who Lin (Manuel Miranda) likes and agrees with.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton’s creator, is a prominent Democrat donor and campaigned for Trump’s opponent, Kamala Harris, during last year’s US presidential election. In November 2016, a cast member aimed a political lecture at audience member Mike Pence, then Trump’s Vice-President elect, from the stage following a Broadway performance.
Kennedy Center departures
Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter departed her position in February, with artistic advisors Ben Folds and Renée Fleming among several high-profile resignations at the venue after Trump returned to office. Some of the board’s new members include singer Lee Greenwood, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, second lady Usha Vance and senior adviser Dan Scavino.
After being elected chairman last month, Trump said: “At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the board of trustees, including the chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
The Kennedy Center, which opened in 1971, attracts more than two million visitors per year, and hosts more than 2,000 events. It is the official residence of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera.