The public has been fuming in the wrath of President Donald Trump and his takeover since entering his second term last year.
He’s cut jobs and funding, fired former friends, in addition to leading the conflict in Iran, despite claiming it would be over weeks ago. But now he’s angered a former curator of the historical building he slapped his name on just a few months ago, who is blowing the whistle on Trump’s takeover.
The former reality TV star cleaned house last year when he fired the performing arts center’s board and replaced them with his allies. He then had the audacity to make himself CEO of the Kennedy Center and had the board vote in favor of adding his name to the building, which was named after the 35th president, John F. Kennedy.
A name change ostensibly requires the permission of Congress, but Trump bypassed the process and announced a two-year closure of the center for renovations, which led to at least 100 layoffs. However, the center’s former curator, Josef Palermo, says that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The former Kennedy Center curator wrote a piece titled “What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center” for The Atlantic, and Palermo revealed that things at the performing arts center are “far worse than the public knows.”
Many employees, including Palermo, were told that they would have their jobs until July when they were laid off, but they were let go on March 26 instead. Palermo also sat down for an interview with PBS News, where he revealed other shady dealings since Trump took over.
The artist said that the fundraising tactics used for Trump’s Kennedy Center were “bizarre” and meant to get donors the president’s ear. Palermo claimed tickets for the musical “Les Misérables” were being sold for $2 million in exchange for being near Trump’s box as well as a VIP invite.
“A lot of that seemed to be positioning the proximity of the president and his chairmanship of the Kennedy Center and essentially selling access to that through things like the preview event of “Les Misérables,” he revealed. “There was an evening last summer where it was reported that tickets were going for $2 million to sit near the president in his presidential box and attend a VIP reception.”
He added that tickets on the orchestra level were going for six figures “just because it was in the same room as the president for that performance.”
“I remember thinking that was strange,” he said during an MS Now interview.
In addition, Palermo was told to get rid of “everything” to make room for new art, and priceless art is missing, including from the African Room, a display with the art from at least 30 African nations.
“There was a sculpture from Ghana that represented the collective Africans’ grief at the assassination of President Kennedy,” he said. “And there were ornate hand-carved wooden doors carved from 700-year-old wood that contained scenes of Yoruban village life. That room is now completely gutted and emptied. I was not told where those items went.”
Palermo added that he was speaking out because he believes art institutions should never be politicized, and Congress should act.
“I’m coming forward as a whistle-blower because I’m calling on Congress to enact some kind of a firewall to prevent this from ever happening again,” he added. “And I believe that that should be a bipartisan effort.”
Unless the courts intervene, the Kennedy Center will shut down this July for two years, as part of a roughly $250 million renovation. In the lead-up, there’s been a wave of layoffs and a controversial rebranding under President Trump’s allies.
Josef Palermo was among those laid… pic.twitter.com/w46rgaku9c
— PBS News (@NewsHour) April 17, 2026
Trump was dragged after the interview was shared on social media, and one X user wondered if the missing art would end up in the twice-impeached president’s home. “How much of this missing artwork will show up at Mar-a-Lago and the homes of Trump’s buddies and donors?”
“Sick these tickets keep going up,” wrote one user. “I need them to go back down. This should be illegal!”
“I saw this man interviewed yesterday,” added another user. ‘He was most forthcoming and truthful! It is outrageous what Trump has done to this once beautiful centre!”
“So sad. The Africa Room was spectacular,” added another.
Palermo added that the new leadership at Trump’s Kennedy Center was full of “incompetence” and had no arts or management experience, or motivation except for photo-ops.
