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Nearly a Dozen Performers Planning to Skip ‘Les Misérables’ Kennedy Center Performance on Night Donald Trump Attending

Nearly a dozen 'Les Misérables' cast members are reportedly sitting out a June Kennedy Center performance of the show that Donald Trump is attending.

In a statement to EW, Trump confidant and the Center’s new director, Richard Grenell, said of the reported boycott, “We haven’t heard this rumor. In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn’t hire — and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience.” Among those who pulled gigs or resigned from their leadership roles at the Kennedy Center in protest were: Ben Folds, Renee Fleming, Shonda Rhimes, Low Cut Connie, Rhiannon Giddens, Issa Rae, as well as a performance of the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Hamilton, the lauded show Trump subsequently criticized, saying “I never liked Hamilton very much.”

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