Latest news with #KennedyCenter
UPI
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
LL Cool J to host hip-hop docuseries for Paramount+
1 of 3 | LL Cool J is slated to host a new hip-hop docuseries for the Paramount + streaming service. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo June 27 (UPI) -- Paramount+ announced Friday that LL Cool J is soon to helm a fresh music docuseries for its platform that will provide a deep dive into everything hip-hop. LL Cool J, born James Todd Smith, is an MC and performer with two Grammy Awards under his belt. He is also a Kennedy Center honoree and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, among other achievements. For Paramount's Hip Hop Was Born Here five-episode series, LL Cool J will take on the role of host, and chat with other hip-hop notables and icons. Intended to show how hip-hop was born, grew and continues to evolve both as a musical genre and a culture, LL Cool J is slated to chat with fellow classic rap stars such as Big Daddy Kane, Doug E. Fresh, Grandmaster Caz, Marley Marl, Rev Run, Roxanne Shante and Method Man. He'll also spend time with newer artists, such as Crystal Caines and Lady London, among others. LL Cool J is also a co-executive producer of the series, a responsibility he shares with a group that also includes NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. Hip Hop Was Born Here will premiere on Paramount+ on July 22 in the United States, Canada, Brazil and across Latin America before showing up on the streaming service across Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Australia the next day. The program's trailer is available to view via the Paramount+ YouTube channel.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Democrats dupe Kennedy Center into hosting gay Pride concert
Democrat senators have duped the Kennedy Center into hosting a gay Pride concert after Donald Trump pledged to end its 'woke programming'. The performing arts institution in Washington, DC, which is led by a senior member of Mr Trump's administration, had apparently been told that the senators intended to put on a talent show. Instead, it was used to stage a Pride event where performers, among them the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, sang Broadway tunes in protest against Mr Trump. Ric Grenell, whom Mr Trump installed as president of the performing arts center after replacing its board with loyalists, said they had engaged in good faith with the request but instead had been used for a 'political stunt'. Earlier this year, the US president assumed control of the Kennedy Center, denouncing its programme as too 'wokey' and pledging to bring in a 'Golden Age of arts of culture'. Numerous artists have since boycotted the venue, which recently cancelled its 'Tapestry of Pride' to celebrate Pride month. John Hickenlooper, one of the Democrat senators to host Monday's event, said: 'What's happening in the world is deeply concerning, but even in our darkest hours, we must continue to seek out the light. 'The LGBTQ community has long embodied this resilience, maintaining joy and creativity in the face of adversity.' Mr Hickenlooper, along with senators Tammy Baldwin, Jacky Rosen, Brian Schatz and Elizabeth Warren, rented out the Justice Forum lecture hall for the 90-minute 'Love is Love' concert, which explored 'gay characters, gay culture, gay music and gay Pride'. It was produced by Jeffrey Seller, the lead producer of 'Hamilton', who recently cancelled a run of the musical at the Kennedy Centre scheduled for 2026. 'This is our way of reoccupying the Kennedy Centre,' he said. 'This is a form of saying, 'We are here, we exist, and you can't ignore us'. This is a protest, and a political act.' Mr Grenell said staff working for Mr Hickenlooper had approached the centre about putting on a talent show and that it had been 'pleased to welcome them'. 'We were only later notified by the New York Times that Senator Hickenlooper's event was instead an invite-only political stunt,' he said in a statement on social media. 'Once again, the Kennedy Centre was being used by political operatives to larp as victims of intolerance in order to get a story in the Times.' He continued: 'No one has been cancelled by the Kennedy Centre; we welcome everyone who wants to celebrate the arts, including our compatriots on the other side of the political aisle. 'We especially welcome artists and audience members who come to the Kennedy Centre not for partisan political pranks but to experience excellence in the performing arts.' Earlier this month, many of the seats in the audience were filled by drag queens when Mr Trump visited for a performance of Les Misérables. One told local media they attended the musical to 'protest in our own way' by 'existing in the space that they've tried to block us from'. Ms Warren, a former contender for the Democrats' presidential nomination, said the concert was an attempt to fight the Trump administration's 'hateful attacks' with 'resilience and joy'. 'We're celebrating that joy at the Kennedy Centre with artists and stage workers for a special performance,' she said. 'I'll never stop fighting to make sure every single person is free to live exactly who they are.' Ms Baldwin, the first openly gay US senator, said the country had 'some big hills to climb' to reach 'true equality'. 'Look no further than the Trump administration's shameful attacks on the LGBTQ community and our right to live a life with dignity, respect, and free from discrimination,' she claimed. 'While this administration won't say it, we will: to all LGBTQ members of our community, we see you, we respect you, and we are proud to celebrate you.'
Fox News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Democratic senators host Pride concert at Kennedy Center to protest Trump takeover
Five Democratic senators joined forces with a "Hamilton" producer to stage a gay pride concert on Monday night in protest of President Donald Trump's takeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The New York Times reported that Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado along with Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen, Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren rented the Justice Forum, a lecture hall within the Kennedy Center, for a 90-minute concert expected to feature "gay characters, gay culture, gay music and gay pride." "What's happening in the world is deeply concerning, but even in our darkest hours, we must continue to seek out the light," Hickenlooper said in a statement. "The L.G.B.T.Q. community has long embodied this resilience, maintaining joy and creativity in the face of adversity." The concert will be produced by Jeffrey Seller, the lead producer of "Hamilton" who described how he was asked to take part in "guerrilla theater" to the New York Times. "This is our way of reoccupying the Kennedy Center," Seller said. "This is a form of saying, 'We are here, we exist, and you can't ignore us.' This is a protest, and a political act." Seller and "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda previously canceled a planned production of the popular rap musical at the Kennedy Center for 2026 in protest of the Trump administration. The concert will feature several Broadway artists as well as the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, whose May performance at the Kennedy Center was canceled. Fox News Digital was told, however, that the decision came before the center's leadership change due to lack of ticket sales rather than politics. Fox News Digital reached out to the Kennedy Center and the five Democratic senators' offices for comment. In February, Trump fired several Kennedy Center board members, including the president and chairman, and replaced them with pro-Trump figures, who then named the president as chairman. Trump later appointed Richard Grenell, who was the first openly gay Cabinet member after serving the first Trump administration, as president and interim executive director.
5 days ago
- Entertainment
A MacArthur 'genius' skewers philanthropy in a farcical play tackling oligarchy and arts funding
NEW YORK -- Taylor Mac does not set out to bite the hand that feeds in a new play satirizing cultural philanthropy. The MacArthur 'genius grant' recipient claims to be 'just trying to get some lipstick on it." Set at a not-for-profit dance company's gala, "Prosperous Fools" invites questions about the moral value of philanthropy in a society denounced by the comedy as 'feudal.' A boorish patron goes mad trying vainly to wield his lacking creative capital and thus confirms the choreographer's fears of selling out to a sleazy oligarch who represents everything his art opposes. The show, written by Mac and directed by Darko Tresnjak, runs through June 29 at Brooklyn's Polonsky Shakespeare Center. 'I'm not trying to hurt anybody. I'm trying to get people to think differently about the world,' said Mac, whose gender pronoun is 'judy.' 'I just wish that all of the great philanthropists of America, and the world, would lead with, 'This is a temporary solution until we can figure out how to make a government of the people, for the people, by the people,'" Mac added. "Instead of, 'This is the solution: I should have all the money and then I get to decide how the world works.'' Don't let present day parallels distract you. The fundraiser's honored donor enters atop a fire-breathing bald eagle in a black graphic tee, blazer and cap much like Elon Musk's signature White House getup. He later dons the long red tie popular in MAGA world. But the resemblance doesn't mean Mac is meditating solely on recent events such as President Donald Trump's billionaire-filled administration and tightening grip over cultural pillars including the Kennedy Center. The script reflects personal frustrations with philanthropy's uneven power dynamics navigated throughout a 30-year career spent in what Mac described as 'a million handshaking ceremonies," first as a cater-waiter and eventually as one of the celebrated honorees who donates performances to help fundraise. Mac's desperate portrayal of the artist at the center of 'Prosperous Fools' only sharpens its skewering of wealthy philanthropists who take more than they give away. When the artist cries 'But why couldn't I have a good oligarch?' and bemoans that 'I should have stayed in the artistic integrity of obscurity,' it feels like a case of art imitating life. Mainstream success came last decade for Mac. 'A 24-Decade History of Popular Music' was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2017 and Mac's Broadway debut play 'Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus' racked up seven Tony nominations in 2019. 'Prosperous Fools,' however, was written 12 years ago before much of the critical acclaim. Mac said 'someone with power' commissioned a translation of French playwright Molière's 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,' which mocks a status-obsessed middle class social climber. Mac isn't surprised the original commissioner didn't want the final product. Molière is hardly present. And the play essentially advocates for an end to the perpetuation of culture that only the affluent deem worthy of funding. Mac is also unsurprised it took over a decade to land another interested producer. The initial 40-person ballet troupe had to be shrunk to a more affordable ensemble of four dancers. Plus, its style, in Mac's judgment, is still rather 'queer' for a 'heteronormative' theater industry. 'And then the other reason is because I insult donors," Mac said. 'I don't think I insult donors," Mac added. "I ask donors to consider. And the theater is entrenched in making sure their donors feel good about themselves — not that their donors are in collaboration with us for us all to get to a place of better consciousness.' The show's slapstick humor helps break down its fairly cerebral subject matter. In one of several moments of hilarity, the patron and his 'philanthropoid' — the ballet's artistic director, whose primary concern is securing donations — sway around the stage oinking like pigs. Mac's artist delivers scathing and highbrow critiques while pretending to be 'The Princess Bride' actor Wallace Shawn in a puppet costume. The gala's other honoree — a star singer called the 'patron saint of philanthropy" who wears a gown adorned with impoverished children's faces — makes no bones about her lust for Shawn. But, as Mac knows, nonstop humor can have the effect of softening its target. 'Prosperous Fools' foregoes the actors' bows that typically end a play in favor of an epilogue, delivered by the artist in rhyming couplets, that serves as the show's final blow to 'philanthrocapitalism.' 'I want to be a tender heart in this too tough world trying to figure out how to maintain my tenderness and how to create revolution with tenderness. And I'm at a loss for it right now," Mac said. "Part of what the play is doing is saying, 'I'm at a loss. Are you? Do you have a solution for me?'' By skipping the curtain call, Mac practically demands that the crowd wrestle immediately with whether charity absolves wealth hoarders' greed — a question boldly put forth at the close of a Theatre for a New Audience season sponsored by Deloitte and Bloomberg Philanthropies. But whether the show's heavy-handed message has reached those financial backers remains to be seen. 'No one's spoken to me," Mac said. Neither responded to requests for comment.
The Hill
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Taylor Mac's ‘Prosperous Fools' skewers wealthy philanthropists in a biting satire
NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Mac does not set out to bite the hand that feeds in a new play satirizing cultural philanthropy. The MacArthur 'genius grant' recipient claims to be 'just trying to get some lipstick on it.' Set at a not-for-profit dance company's gala, 'Prosperous Fools' invites questions about the moral value of philanthropy in a society denounced by the comedy as 'feudal.' A boorish patron goes mad trying vainly to wield his lacking creative capital and thus confirms the choreographer's fears of selling out to a sleazy oligarch who represents everything his art opposes. The show, written by Mac and directed by Darko Tresnjak, runs through June 29 at Brooklyn's Polonsky Shakespeare Center. 'I'm not trying to hurt anybody. I'm trying to get people to think differently about the world,' said Mac, whose gender pronoun is 'judy.' 'I just wish that all of the great philanthropists of America, and the world, would lead with, 'This is a temporary solution until we can figure out how to make a government of the people, for the people, by the people,'' Mac added. 'Instead of, 'This is the solution: I should have all the money and then I get to decide how the world works.'' Don't let present day parallels distract you. The fundraiser's honored donor enters atop a fire-breathing bald eagle in a black graphic tee, blazer and cap much like Elon Musk's signature White House getup. He later dons the long red tie popular in MAGA world. But the resemblance doesn't mean Mac is meditating solely on recent events such as President Donald Trump's billionaire-filled administration and tightening grip over cultural pillars including the Kennedy Center. The script reflects personal frustrations with philanthropy's uneven power dynamics navigated throughout a 30-year career spent in what Mac described as 'a million handshaking ceremonies,' first as a cater-waiter and eventually as one of the celebrated honorees who donates performances to help fundraise. Mac's desperate portrayal of the artist at the center of 'Prosperous Fools' only sharpens its skewering of wealthy philanthropists who take more than they give away. When the artist cries 'But why couldn't I have a good oligarch?' and bemoans that 'I should have stayed in the artistic integrity of obscurity,' it feels like a case of art imitating life. Mainstream success came last decade for Mac. 'A 24-Decade History of Popular Music' was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2017 and Mac's Broadway debut play 'Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus' racked up seven Tony nominations in 2019. 'Prosperous Fools,' however, was written 12 years ago before much of the critical acclaim. Mac said 'someone with power' commissioned a translation of French playwright Molière's 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,' which mocks a status-obsessed middle class social climber. Mac isn't surprised the original commissioner didn't want the final product. Molière is hardly present. And the play essentially advocates for an end to the perpetuation of culture that only the affluent deem worthy of funding. Mac is also unsurprised it took over a decade to land another interested producer. The initial 40-person ballet troupe had to be shrunk to a more affordable ensemble of four dancers. Plus, its style, in Mac's judgment, is still rather 'queer' for a 'heteronormative' theater industry. 'And then the other reason is because I insult donors,' Mac said. 'I don't think I insult donors,' Mac added. 'I ask donors to consider. And the theater is entrenched in making sure their donors feel good about themselves — not that their donors are in collaboration with us for us all to get to a place of better consciousness.' The show's slapstick humor helps break down its fairly cerebral subject matter. In one of several moments of hilarity, the patron and his 'philanthropoid' — the ballet's artistic director, whose primary concern is securing donations — sway around the stage oinking like pigs. Mac's artist delivers scathing and highbrow critiques while pretending to be 'The Princess Bride' actor Wallace Shawn in a puppet costume. The gala's other honoree — a star singer called the 'patron saint of philanthropy' who wears a gown adorned with impoverished children's faces — makes no bones about her lust for Shawn. But, as Mac knows, nonstop humor can have the effect of softening its target. 'Prosperous Fools' foregoes the actors' bows that typically end a play in favor of an epilogue, delivered by the artist in rhyming couplets, that serves as the show's final blow to 'philanthrocapitalism.' 'I want to be a tender heart in this too tough world trying to figure out how to maintain my tenderness and how to create revolution with tenderness. And I'm at a loss for it right now,' Mac said. 'Part of what the play is doing is saying, 'I'm at a loss. Are you? Do you have a solution for me?'' By skipping the curtain call, Mac practically demands that the crowd wrestle immediately with whether charity absolves wealth hoarders' greed — a question boldly put forth at the close of a Theatre for a New Audience season sponsored by Deloitte and Bloomberg Philanthropies. But whether the show's heavy-handed message has reached those financial backers remains to be seen. 'No one's spoken to me,' Mac said. Neither responded to requests for comment. ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
