Guitarist and Composer Yasmin Williams Shares Conversation with Kennedy Center’s Executive Director 

“I’m too busy to confront your vapidness,” said Richard Grenell in response to inquiries by Williams

The award-winning guitarist and composer Yasmin Williams has shared her correspondence with the Kennedy Center’s Executive Director Richard Grenell, whom she queried on the Center’s rollback of DEI initiatives. 

In recent months, the Kennedy Center has seen a myriad of changes, including a full turnover of the board, President Trump appointing himself as chair, and the cancellation of multiple concerts, including the children’s show Finn and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington. 

“These events have caused a major negative reaction in my musical community to playing at the Kennedy Center, with lots of individuals I know ultimately cancelling their shows there,” Williams wrote to Grenell. “...Lots of people I know [say] they will no longer attend shows at the Kennedy Center and/or won’t play there … does the President actually care about artists cancelling shows at the Kennedy Center? What, if anything, has changed about the Kennedy Center regarding hiring practices, performance booking, and staffing?”

According to Williams, Grenell responded that they never cancelled any shows and that “every single person who cancelled a show did so because they couldn't be in the presence of republicans.” He added that “your people also booed and harassed the vice president who simply wanted to enjoy music with his wife for a night. Who is the intolerant one?”

Williams later repeated her questions and wrote: “Your assumptions on my political leanings are incorrect, by the way. Let’s try to be professional.”

In response, Grenell wrote: “I'm too busy to confront your vapidness to believe what you read without doing your own research … Your assumptions are wrong … Kennedy Center has zero in the bank and zero in reserves and has been paying the staff with debt reserve money for the past 8 months.”

Recently, the new leadership team under Trump claimed that the Center has an operating deficit of $100 million and is $40 million in debt. 

However, despite the claims, the Center’s recent tax filings show that it reported a profit of over $6 million for the fiscal year ending in September 2023. The center’s total revenue for 2023 was over $286 million. 

On the Kennedy Center’s programming, Grenell told Williams that “the programs are so woke that they haven’t made money … I cut the DEl bullshit because we can’t afford to pay people for fringe and niche programming that the public won't support. Yes, I cut the people making over $500k a year because we are in debt. Yes, we are doing programming for the masses in order to pay our bills.”

“This email thread is between myself and Richard Grenell, the interim executive director of the Kennedy Center,” Williams explained on Instagram. “The way I was responded to was completely unprofessional and rude. 

“I tried emailing him to go to the direct source for my questions (since news articles discussing the Kennedy Center happenings are oftentimes conflicting) and was treated like this,” she added. “I hope posting this email thread illuminates the terrible folks who are now leading the Kennedy Center. I’ve had so many amazing career and life highlights at the Kennedy Center and I hate to think that the establishment could be run down permanently by this man.”