Photo Credit: TrumpKennedyCenter.org
A former writer on the animated hit South Park bought two website domains to troll Donald Trump ahead of his Trump Kennedy Center unveiling.
Toby Morton, a former writer on South Park, rightly predicted that Donald Trump was poised to rename the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Back in August, Morton purchased two domain names: TrumpKennedyCenter.org and TrumpKennedyCenter.com. Earlier this month, after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the performing arts center would be renamed, Morton went to work using his domain name purchases to troll the president with a new website.
TrumpKennedyCenter.org welcomes visitors to the site, for the “national cultural center dedicated to legacy, loyalty, and the careful presentation of history.” A post on the site also suggests ringing in the New Year “with a performance by The Epstein Dancers,” prodding at the ongoing controversy surrounding Trump’s connections to the late child sex offender.
“Here, tradition is preserved, narratives are curated, and performances are elevated beyond mere art,” the website states. “What is remembered matters. What is omitted matters more.”
“As soon as Trump began gutting the Kennedy Center board earlier this year, I thought, ‘Yep, that name’s going on the building,’” Morton told The Washington Post, noting that he has the support from certain Kennedy family members. These include Kerry Kennedy (daughter of Robert F. Kennedy) and Ethel Kennedy (sister of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and niece of former President John F. Kennedy).
Morton revealed that one of the Kennedy ladies sent him a message on social media expressing how “thrilled” she was to find out he had purchased the domain name. “There are many forms back to this system, and yours is unique and impactful. I just want to express my gratitude.”
Meanwhile, numerous artists have cancelled events at the performing arts center in protest of the renaming. The latest is Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, who told Newsday that he will join the list of artists who have said they will not perform at the venue after Trump’s name was added to the building.
“It no longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be,” Schwartz said in a statement. “There’s no way I would set foot in it now.”
Other artists to have dropped out of events at the center in light of its recent renaming include Issa Rae, Peter Wolf, Lin-Manuel Miranda, jazz supergroup The Cookers, and drummer-vibraphonist Chuck Redd. Kennedy Center head Richard Grenell said they are planning a $1 million lawsuit against Redd, calling his withdrawal from a longstanding Christmas Eve jazz concert at the center a “political stunt.”
