Kari Lake, the director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, told Breitbart News that President Donald Trump is depoliticizing the Kennedy Center and Americans from all political persuasions can now enjoy art there.
Breitbart News interviewed Lake on the Red Carpet ahead of the Kennedy Center Honors and asked if she believes the left politicized the Kennedy Center under previous administrations and if the president is merely depoliticizing it.
“He’s depoliticizing it,” she said. “You know, what’s so beautiful about the Kennedy Center now is you can come here. You can be the most liberal, leftist Democrat, the most conservative Republican, and you can come and enjoy shows that are now not pushing a woke agenda. I mean, before it was just LGTBQ, trans-plus, DEI, woke. You would sit down to just enjoy something, and we’ve all had this happen with movies, you sit down, and within the first five minutes, you realize they’re pushing an agenda on you, and you just, you turn it off and go, ‘I don’t want any part of that.’”
She said Trump, who also serves as chairman of the Kennedy Center Board, understands that Americans do not want the arts to be politicized.
“President Trump realizes when people sit down and spend their hard-earned money on the arts, they just want to be entertained. They want to leave their politics at the door. They want to sit shoulder to shoulder with people who may or may not agree with them and just be entertained. And I can’t think of anybody better to help run this and lead this than President Trump. And it wasn’t a political choice. It was a necessity to save this amazing building.”
“The Kennedy Center is a jewel, but it was falling apart. It was crumbling,” she added. “The money that was coming in, flowing in, was being misspent, possibly at a criminal level, and that will be eventually, hopefully, investigated. Under the leadership of Ambassador Ric Grenell, they have raised more money, I think, than ever at the Kennedy Center. He’ll be announcing that in the coming days, President Trump is working to restore the beauty of this building and make sure it’s not cracking and falling apart. And I think even if you don’t appreciate President Trump, even though most people do, you have to appreciate there’s no one better to start rebuilding a building and making sure that it’s in good shape. And not only is in good shape, but looks good.”
As Fox News reported, the Kennedy Center hauled in $23 million in donations for the Honors this year, which far exceeds the $13.7 million haul last year when former President Joe Biden was in office. Breitbart News asked Lake if she believes the massive increase is a result of depoliticization.
“One hundred percent, and this is money that’s coming in from people who weren’t donating to the arts before. Now, people realize everyone’s welcome at the Kennedy Center. Everyone’s welcome to see the arts here. It’s not just the woke arts anymore,” she said. “You’re welcome to come, whatever your political leanings are. I frankly don’t care if you’re Democrat or Republican. If you love America, I love you.”
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