DC Gay Men’s Choir Is Out and MAGAt “Singers” Are in At Kennedy Center

February 22, 2025
HANK ORSO

(The colorful editorial opinions throughout this piece are those of the writer alone.)

Tell us you didn't see this coming. Of course, we did. As reported over at Edge Network and other locations, the Kennedy Center schedule has scrubbed an upcoming performance by the Gay Men's Choir of Washington, DC to be replaced by the J6 Prison Choir.

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I know, shocking, right? Well, not really if you've paid even an iota of attention to the horrific shenanigans issuing forth out of the White House and other departments of tomfoolery like the syphilitic shaft of a GOP congressman the last month. (Jesus Christ has it only been a month?!)

So to catch you up, Wannabe King Tangerine Face Got rid of several members of the board of the esteemed John F. Kennedy Center, a bastion of the arts and creative expression for decades, only to place himself at its head, for...reasons. Those reasons were probably because back in his first round as Failure In Chief, several artists refused to attend White Hosue functions surrounding the ceremonies around their induction into the receiving of their Kenedy Honors. In trackable childish response, he refused to attend any functions at the Center his entire time there. While denouncing their programs as "terrible" whilst never having attended any of them, he took aim at the Center along with many other institutions in his house cleaning and DEI scrubbing.

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The choir was set to perform their concert "A Peacock Among Pigeons" in May. According to reporting at Consequence:

During an appearance at CPAC on Thursday, conservative activist and Trump ally Steve Bannon shared that the J6 Prison Choir, which is comprised of men previously imprisoned for their involvement in the January 6th United States Capitol attack, will soon perform at the Kennedy Center. Bannon said he was informed of their invitation by Ric Grenell, who was recently appointed by Trump as Kennedy Center’s interim executive director.

The terrorist attack on January 6th, 2021, in an attempt to overthrow the peaceful transition after Joe Biden's election, by MAGA supporters resulted in the direct and indirect (by complications and suicide) of nine individuals and police officers. Over 140 police and security officers were injured in the mob-led melee. One of 47's first acts in office in January was to pardon approximately 1500 of these terrorists, whom he called "hostages of the justice system."

The "choir" went viral for a bit with their little ditty "And Justice For All" which was their rendition of the Star Spangled Banner overlaid with their leader's recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

You may now go scream if you haven't already.

GMCWDC released the following statement:

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And of course, things aren't ever black and white in Trumpworld. According to Deadline, the timing and justification for the cancellation of the performance, which was to be held in collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra, is suspect:

When reached for comment, the Kennedy Center provided a statement to Deadline from NSO executive director Jean Davidson, noting that the show has merely been postponed, which was decided “before the leadership transition” and was “due to financial and scheduling factors.”
“We chose to replace it with The Wizard of Oz, another suitable program for World PRIDE participation,” added Davidson. “Program changes are a common practice. We were unable to announce the replacement program until we had secured the rights to present it, but in the interest of transparency, we removed the original program from the website to prevent further ticket sales.”

Okay. Sure, Jan.

So like I said earlier, this is not terribly surprising. And we will see much more of this type of thing in the future as attacks on LGBTQ+ expression become normalized in the halls of power.

But here's the thing. Our voices have sung out before this, when there were never any protections, and they will continue to sing out, and they will flourish, and they will endure. After "his" ilk are long dead...and they will die off...our voices will be singing loudly and proudly. Maybe not at the Kennedy Center, but elsewhere.