Ben Folds @ The Wiltern Los Angeles 08/16/2023 shot for Pass The Aux Ben Folds @ The Wiltern 08/16/2023 (Photo: Justin Higuchi/Wikipedia Commons)
Singer-songwriter and legendary musician Ben Folds slammed President Donald Trump's recent takeover of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts saying he's making a good thing awful.
MS NOW host Chris Jansing asked what Folds knew about the future of the institution. Folds said that they are clearly no longer trying to elevate the arts. He added that no one he knows was aware that the Kennedy Center would be closing for two years.
A CNN report earlier this week revealed that the reason it was being forced to close is that there were no performers for the 2026-2027 season.
Folds made it clear that it isn't the "dump" that Trump said it is. He spent ten years as the artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington for the institution. He resigned last year, saying that he didn't want to be complicit in anything involving the Trump administration. He initially thought the effort was to choke off the arts, given the administration's moves to silence Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.
Jansing said that in her experience, everything was lovely and comfortable compared to some Broadway theaters she's been to. It made her wonder why Trump would lie about the center's state
"Well, I mean, it's hard to know what goes on in someone's mind who will say things like that," Folds said. "But, I mean, I do think that, you know, the overall like I say, arts administration is quite, quite a skill. It takes a long time to understand. And when you come in, and you take over a place like that, you're trying to muzzle the arts or control it. And people are art. Even in the Soviet Union, at the height of Stalin, some of the greatest music ever made was coming out."
He said that Trump will never be successful in silencing the art community with his Kennedy Center takeover, even if it means shutting down the buildings and threatening companies that make or distribute art.
"We're human beings. And so it's very frustrating to go, wow, we think we can take over the Kennedy Center and suddenly guess what? You don't know what you're doing," he mocked. "And part of not knowing what you're doing is not understanding how to get artists there, how to get audiences there. And none of the criticism or the lies that were leveled at the place had — held any water at all."
He called the place "very diverse," meaning it was "representative of the USA, including, like rural America and every Christian, everybody, they were all included."
"There was no — I don't know what woke even means. There was none of that. All it was was a really well-run place," he continued. Folds conceded that every place has its challenges, but The "Kennedy Center was in its golden years, you know?"
He noted that in 2023, they were "in the black," meaning the arts institution was running with a surplus. It's something he called outstanding to have a federal arts institution making that much money.
"They've not closed it for renovations. It's just gone," he noted. Folds added that it was a "living monument" and a "great gift to the United States."
The National Symphony Orchestra is "out in the cold now," he said, adding that he hope they would soon find a home during the Trump administration.
