Some Performers Canceled Their Kennedy Center Shows — Here's Why W. Kamau Bell Didn't

Several entertainers have severed ties with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since President Trump assumed chairmanship of the organization.

W. Kamau Bell is not one of them.

The Emmy Award-winning stand-up comedian and host of the CNN series United Shades of America chose not to cut ties or cancel his scheduled shows at the Kennedy Center, which marked the start of his 10-city tour across the country.

“I think Joe Biden was still running for president when the show was booked,” Bell told NPR’s Morning Edition. “So like, this was not connected to any of this.”

Grey’s Anatomy creator and How to Get Away with Murder executive producer Shonda Rhimes announced her departure from the Kennedy Center’s board last week. Rhimes had been on the board of the center since 2013 and was appointed by former President Barack Obama. Actress and producer Issa Rae, who created and starred in HBO’s Insecure, announced on Instagram that she would be canceling her sold-out appearance scheduled for March.

Trump appointed a new board of directors that includes second lady Usha Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Elaine Chao, a former U.S. secretary of labor and the wife of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell.

The president wants to move away from performances that he views as “woke culture,” which Trump believes the center has focused on in the past, according to reporting from CBS News.

W. Kamau Bell joined NPR’s Michel Martin to discuss his decision not to cancel his performance, despite disagreeing with the president’s politics and decision to take over the Kennedy Center.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Michel Martin: So tell me again how you heard about what happened?

Kamau Bell: Trump had already said that he was going to take over, but nobody knew what that meant. And so on the flight [to Washington, D.C.] I got the wi-fi, as I always do, and I started getting emails and texts from people about it, and it was just like a clear sense of like, oh, something’s happened, you know?

Had you performed at the Kennedy Center before, and if you hadn’t, either way, why did you want to go?

I did a show there years ago in one of the smaller rooms, so I have a lot of respect for the Kennedy Center, and you can’t help but feel how cool it is to be there even as an audience member. You sort of feel like a bona fide winner at the Kennedy Center. There’s something about like, nobody’s going to tell me I’m not an artist of note ever again, you know?

So you and the comedian who opened for you, Dwayne Kennedy, made jokes about the whole situation. He said something like, “Welcome to the last time two Black guys are going to be at the Kennedy Center.” And you said something along the lines of, “my kids like to eat every day, so that’s why I’m here.” But seriously, what were your thoughts about it? Did you ever consider canceling or not going on?

I mean, so the people at the Kennedy Center reached out because they were sort of almost preparing for me to cancel. But for me, I’m connected to it as a Black person, to all this history in my family of showing up. So I knew there was never a point at which I thought about not showing up.

Also, let’s remember, the Kennedy Center is in a city called Washington, D.C. So as much as MAGA runs the White House, maybe they don’t run Washington, D.C. And Washington, D.C., has always been a bright blue, progressive place. If you want to move the White House to Branson, Mo., understandably you would program the Kennedy Center in a different way.

Say more about the decision to go or not to go, because there are people who know your work, know that you are a comedian, but you’re also a social commentator, you are an activist. You make it very clear what your politics are. So just tell me about what the thought process is in deciding how to engage with the moment.

If the Kennedy Center called me this week and said, “Do you want to do a show at the Kennedy Center?” that would have been maybe a different decision. I might have still done it, but it’s a different decision. I’ve been planning this for months, you know what I mean? And so on some level, it’s like I, the performer, want to do the thing that I’ve been looking forward to.

Then there’s a part of me that knows my audience — specifically in times of stress and pain and controversy — actually wants to hear from me. And some of it is about showing up and being my full self, as my mom taught me. As the Bay Area raised me to be. As my — as I want my kids to see me being in that space at that time.

Is there any part of you that worries that you’re validating things you don’t agree with by being in that space?

Not if I am my Black-ass self. And I don’t mean to swear. But if I can be myself in these spaces, then I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

There are a lot of people thinking about what their role is at this moment. What would you say your work is right now, and what would you advise other people to do who are sort of struggling with how they should show up or where they should show up or what they should be doing?

My whole career, at least for the last 15 years or so, has been about earning a living, but also making sure it’s easier for the person behind me who either looks like me or is aligned with me. For me, I have to be loud and to be as clear as possible for the people who can’t be loud and clear. And I got to take care of my family. But that does mean that sometimes — and I have done this for years, turned down things that were going to pay me because I can’t be over there, because I don’t think over there I can be my Black-ass self.

People say to stay in your lane and we go, “No, no. Know your lane.” What can you do in the lane that you’re already in that can help make it easier on somebody who can’t do the work that you can do? That’s where it starts. People are like, “I’m going to go back to law school.” No, no, no. What are you doing now? “I’m going to start a nonprofit.” No, no, no. What are you doing now? And how can you start making that lane more equitable, more inclusive, more diverse where you are?