Washington, Feb 8 (AP) President Donald Trump said Friday that he is firing members of the board of trustees for the Kennedy Centre and naming himself chairman.

He also indicated that he would be dictating programming at one of the nation's premier cultural institutions, specifically declaring that he'd put an end to events featuring performers in drag.

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Trump's announcement came as the new president has bulldozed his way across official Washington during the first weeks of his second term, trying to shutter federal agencies, freeze spending and ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the government.

“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN. I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” Trump wrote on his social media website.

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“We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!”

In a statement late Friday on its website, the Kennedy Centre said it was aware of Trump's post. “We have received no official communications from the White House regarding changes to our board of trustees,” the statement said. “We are aware that some members of our board have received termination notices from the administration.”

The statement continued: “Per the Centre's governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Centre's board members. There is nothing in the Centre's statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Centre's board.”

Unlike former President Joe Biden and other commanders in chief through the decades, Trump did not attend the annual Kennedy Centre Honours ceremonies during his first term, held at the performing arts venue in Washington's Foggy Bottom neighbourhood that opened in 1971.

Shortly after Trump's post, the Kennedy Centre website began experiencing technical difficulties. Visitors got a message reading “We are experiencing high traffic” and were redirected to a “waiting room” that listed how many hundreds of people were trying to access the site ahead of them.

Trump suggested in his post that he would be implementing some changes to the centre's performance schedule, noting that last year “the Kennedy Centre featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP."

According to its website, the centre in July hosted a preshow titled “A Drag Salute to Divas” and a November “Drag Brunch.”

In his post, Trump did not clarify which board of trustee members he would be terminating besides the current chairman, philanthropist David Rubenstein. The board often features political powerbrokers and major donors, and is currently made up of members from both sides of the aisle.

Rubenstein was first elected to the post in 2010 and reelected each year since that time. Also, the principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles, Rubenstein was originally appointed to the Kennedy Centre board by President George W. Bush and subsequently reappointed by President Barack Obama and Biden.

The current board features Biden's White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, as well as Mike Donilon, Biden's longtime ally, and Stephanie Cutter, a former Obama adviser.

The treasurer of the centre's board of trustees is television producer Shonda Rhimes, who hosted fundraisers for Biden before he abandoned his reelection bid last summer.

But the current board also features Trump allies, including Pam Bondi, the new president's recently confirmed attorney general, and Lee Greenwood, whose song “God Bless the USA,” was the unofficial anthem of Trump's presidential campaign.

During his first term in 2019, Trump announced that he was tapping actor Jon Voight, a longtime supporter, to the board, along with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who he's picked as US ambassador to Israel this time. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)