Grammy-winning artist tells the septuagenarian rapist who's commandeered the Kennedy Center to GET BENT.

[Miles Archer]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/kennedy-center-scrambles-after-grammy-winner-renee-fleming-cancels-appearances/

The Kennedy Center is scrambling to find a replacement for a pair of shows after the Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming canceled her appearances.

Those cancellations make the 66-year-old Fleming the latest to withdraw from performances at the center after President Donald Trump overhauled its leadership structure, including installing himself as chair.

The Pennsylvania-born artist resigned as Artistic Advisor at Large to the Center last year in protest of Trump’s purge of existing leadership and the installation of his own board of close allies, which includes White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and second lady Usha Vance.

Fleming was slated to appear alongside conductor James Gaffigan and the National Symphony Orchestra for two performances in May.

[wcmagumba]

1. Good for her, if I were any kind of artist scheduled for that place I would also decline and cancel...

[tanyev]

2. After Trump slapped his name on the building, Ms. Fleming recalled a prior commitment

to…wash her hair…both of those days.

[hlthe2b]

3. Jim Gaffigan will probably appear, given he appears on CBS Sunday Morning, to appease his

MAGA master. But I hope to hell it backfires like nobody's business if he does, and he can't get three people to see his "comedy" act in the future.

[Straw Man]

4. It's not the same James Gaffigan.

It's this guy: https://www.aso.org/artists/detail/james-gaffigan

[hlthe2b]

5. okay then...

[ColoringFool]

7. WTH? The Comedian Is NOT MAGA! SEE LINK:

Jim Gaffigan defends anti-Trump remarks even if ‘true die-hard’ MAGA ‘never forgive me’ https://share.google/rqSSfHfANjrwGH2X6

[hlthe2b]

9. For gawd's sakes would you read what I actually wrote? Nowhere did I suggest HE was MAGA

He reports to Bari Weiss and the new owner of CBS-Paramount--both whom ARE MAGA or at least MAGA-Trump-enabling.

[AverageOldGuy]

6. She's a good bit more than a Grammy winner

From Wikipedia

She has a worldwide acclaimed operatic full lyric soprano voice. She has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano operatic roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English.
. . .
Beyond opera, Fleming has sung and recorded lieder, chansons, jazz, musical theatre, and indie rock, and she has performed with a wide range of artists, including Luciano Pavarotti, Lou Reed, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Andrea Bocelli, Sting, John Prine, and Dead & Company.

She received a Kennedy Center honor in 2023 and, as I recall, she sang the National Anthem at a Super Bowl.

Fleming is serious.

Her cancelling at the Kennedy Center is a REALLY BIG THING. Not that Trump will understand.

[3catwoman3]

8. Bravissima to her! My late mother was the nurse at the middle school ...

Last edited Fri Jan 23, 2026, 10:26 PM - Edit history (1)

...Renee Fleming attended in Gates-Chili NY, a suburb of Rochester. Fleming attended the world famous Eastman School of Music, also in Rochester, established by philanthropist George Eastman, of Eastman Kodak fame.

My mom followed Fleming's career with great interest, and would be very proud of this principled stand.

Possible 6 degrees of separation story - my mom's raison d'etre in her school nursing career was age appropriate sex education, so it is entirely possible that Ms. Fleming would have heard one of my mom's enlightened "birds and bees" classes while a middle school student.