Senators rent a Kennedy Center theater to stage the Pride concert the Center had cancelled

Other

Date
Actor
Sens. John Hickenlooper, Tammy Baldwin, Elizabeth Warren, Jacky Rosen, Brian Schatz (congressional response)
Type
Other
Section
SUPPLEMENT: THE KENNEDY CENTER TAKEOVER IS ABSENT FROM THE CULTURAL-INSTITUTIONS RECORD, THOUGH THE SMITHSONIAN, NEA, NEH, IMLS, AND NPS ACTIONS ARE ALL COVERED

Summary

Five senators use a congressional booking privilege to rent the Center's 144-seat Justice Forum and stage "Love Is Love," a 90-minute invitation-only program of Broadway performers and the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C., without disclosing the nature of the event to Kennedy Center leadership in advance. Producer Jeffrey Seller described it as "our way of reoccupying the Kennedy Center ... a protest, and a political act." The episode documents that Pride programming could be presented in the building only by circumventing the institution's own booking process.

Status

Event occurred; the underlying programming exclusion remains.

As recorded in the data of . Check the sources for anything newer.

Sources

Cite this action

Press Release, Sen. John Hickenlooper, ICYMI: Hickenlooper, Senators Host PRIDE Celebration at Kennedy Center (June 25, 2025), https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/icymi-hickenlooper-senators-host-pride-celebration-at-kennedy-center/.

Short form: Press Release, Sen. John Hickenlooper, ICYMI: Hickenlooper, Senators Host PRIDE Celebration at Kennedy Center (June 25, 2025), https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/icymi-hickenlooper-senators-host-pride-celebration-at-kennedy-center/.