Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller announced Wednesday that the musical’s third performance at the Kennedy Center, slated for March and April 2026, will be canceled in protest of President Donald Trump’s recent takeover of the institution. “Some institutions are sacred and should be protected from politics. The Kennedy Center is one such institution,” Seller wrote in a statement posted to X. “In recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed. 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.” The producer proceeded to list the termination of the center’s President Deborah Rutter and Board Chairman David Rubenstein as causes for the depletion of its “spirit of nonpartisanship.” “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 continued, noting that the decision was “not acting against [Trump’s] administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.”
