Tag: art

Pro-Trump Christian: Kennedy Center Fired Me Over My Religious Beliefs

A prominent pro-Trump Christian says he was fired from his role as vice president of the Kennedy Center just because he refused to renounce his belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Floyd Brown, the founder of Western Journal, had been recruited about a month ago to serve as the performing arts center’s vice president.

He accused Kennedy Center president Ric Grenell, who is married to a man, of being intimidated by a CNN hit piece that highlighted what the news network called Brown’s anti-gay rhetoric.

He asked to speak to Grenell for an explanation, but his request was rejected. The Kennedy Center has not responded to inquiries about the allegations.

Brown said “the only explanation is the one given to me at the time of my firing. ‘Floyd, you must recant your belief in traditional marriage and your past statements on the topic, or you will be fired.’ Needless to say, I refused to recant and was shown the door. My beliefs are much more common to Biblical Christianity.”

CNN’s KFile published the attack on Brown Thursday titled, “Far-Right with history of anti-gay comments fired from leadership role at Kennedy Center after CNN investigation.”

Brown said the article, which is behind a paywall, rehashed “past writings and statements about traditional marriage and homosexual influence in the GOP.”

Brown released a statement CNN in response to their hit piece.

“It is an honor to work at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and with the many amazing people who are employed here. Comments rooted in my personal Christian views, which I have made in the past, have no impact upon my work here at the Kennedy Center nor do they impinge on my interactions with colleagues who do incredible work for the patrons of the Center. As a Christian I am called to work with others of different beliefs and worldviews.”

Brown said there was no intention to offend anyone with his Christian beliefs.

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Ric Grenell Reveals Insane Amount Of Fake Revenue Reportedly Discovered in Kennedy Center’s Books

Ric Grenell, the Interim Executive Director of the Kennedy Center, said an internal investigation reportedly found $26 million in fake revenue, adding that “people need to be prosecuted.”

“Our great new CFO [Donna Arduin] went through the 2024 and 2025 budgets of the Kennedy Center and found $26 million in phantom revenue,” Grenell said in a clip shared on X on Wednesday from a recent event at the White House for the famed venue.

“Fake revenue,” he added. “It’s criminal. We are going to refer this to the U.S. Attorney’s office here [Washington, D.C.]. We are lucky enough to have the Attorney General on the board of the Kennedy Center, who heard all the details today. She [Judge Jeanine Pirro] heard the details, and this is unacceptable in America to have … fraud on previous donors.”

Grenell recently spoke to Mark Halperin on his “2 Way” podcast, and the former U.S. ambassador to Germany and U.S. Envoy for Special Missions did not hold back about the alleged fraud they had discovered, promising that there would be an investigation by the Department of Justice and the FBI into the matter.

“What we just found, and we’re going to turn over to DOJ and the FBI for an investigation … our forensic new CFO went through the books for ’24 and ’25, found $26 million in phantom revenue,” Grenell said. “And so the problem that we have with $26 million in phantom revenue is they were telling the board that we had this revenue–We’re going to release all of the details to the FBI and to DOJ to look at this because it’s fraud.”

“They were literally lying about how the finances were,” he added. “And let me just finish with this, for the last nine months, well before we got there, we have been paying the staff at the Kennedy Center through debt reserves.

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CCP Mounting Unrestricted Warfare to Suppress Shen Yun, Lawmaker Says

The Chinese regime’s growing campaign to suppress a New York-based performing arts firm is tantamount to unrestricted warfare, according to Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.).

“They fight on every single inch of the battlefield,” Perry told The Epoch Times, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

Unrestricted warfare is a doctrine that leverages all available nonmilitary means to subdue an enemy. Under such tactics, China is taking advantage of the U.S. judicial system and the freedom of the media, Perry added.

Shen Yun showcases dance and music performances under the tagline “China before communism.” The company was founded in 2006 by practitioners of Falun Gong—a faith group brutally persecuted by the Chinese regime since 1999—and has been a target of the CCP since.

Over the past year, the regime’s effort targeting Shen Yun has escalated significantly, with dozens of bomb and death threats aimed at intimidating theaters that host Shen Yun performances along with the company’s training facilities in upstate New York. Following a secret directive from top leadership in Beijing, Chinese agents in the United States have tried to bribe the IRS to open a probe against Shen Yun. They also went to Orange County, where Shen Yun is based, to surveil local Falun Gong practitioners. Attack articles targeting Shen Yun appear on Western media, which are then boosted on social media X by thousands of accounts with suspected links to Beijing.

Perry, who sits on the House foreign affairs and intelligence committees, said it was important to take these threats seriously.

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Oldest Rock Art: 200,000-Year-Old Carvings Found on Stone in Marbella, Spain

Archaeologists have made a groundbreaking discovery in Marbella, Spain, unearthing a stone with ancient engravings on its face that could rewrite the history of prehistoric art. The find suggests that early humans may have been engaging in symbolic expression far earlier than previously believed, as this ancient rock art may predate the previous oldest samples in Europe by more than 100,000 years.

The stone was discovered at the Coto Correa site in the Las Chapas neighborhood of Marbella, which is located in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. Researchers currently estimate that the engravings are more than 200,000 years old, a timeframe that places them deep within the Lower Paleolithic era. The maker of the engravings would have been part of an early wave of human migrants to leave Africa and move into Europe, with much larger waves destined to duplicate this journey later on.

If these estimates are confirmed, this could be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in Spain’s history, as it will literally require the rewriting of textbooks and other official resources that discuss the development of art as a form of human self-expression.

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Three piglets stolen from art exhibit where they were meant to starve to death — until a 10-year-old girl spoke up

The three little pigs were rescued from the big, bad wolf.

Three piglets that were left to starve to death as part of a shocking art exhibit in Denmark have been stolen and saved from their horrific fate thanks to a 10-year-old girl begging her father to come to their rescue.

Artist Marco Evaristti opened the “And Now Your Care?” exhibit on Friday in Copenhagen to “wake up the Danish society” to the cruel treatment of factory-farmed pigs in the nation that is one of the world’s largest pork exporters.

To make his point, the native Chilean constructed a cage of hay and shopping carts, trapping a trio of adorable piglets inside with the express purpose of allowing them to starve to death. 

But the tiny pigs have been given a second chance at life after the conscience of a friend of the artist, Caspar Steffensen, prevailed over the unsavory demonstration.

Steffensen said his 10-year-old daughter begged him to “make sure the piggies won’t die.”

So the big-hearted dad teamed up with the animal rights group De Glemte Danske (the Forgotten Danes) to steal the animals even if it meant betraying his friend.

“When I was approached by an activist to help free the animals, I let them into the gallery secretively on Saturday,” Steffensen admitted to the Associated Press.

The pigs, named Simon, Lucia and Benjamin, were spirited away from their makeshift torture chamber and taken to a safe location by De Glemte Danske.

“On Saturday morning, we were contacted by one of Evarsitti’s colleagues, who informed us the pigs could be picked up before 11 o’clock on the same day,” the statement from the activist group posted Tuesday read.

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Iranian Regime Sentences Artist to Death for Advocating Freedom and Insulting Muhammad

The Iranian regime has issued a death sentence against pop singer Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, known professionally as Tataloo, for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

This has sparked a wave of reactions both within and outside the country, highlighting the severity of Iran’s blasphemy laws.

Tataloo, whose fame has spread beyond Iran’s borders, has been a controversial figure in the underground music scene.

According to sources, the singer has been detained in Iran since his extradition from Turkey in December 2023.

He now faces a sentence that not only threatens his life but also underscores the tensions between artistic freedom and the strict interpretation of Islamic law in Iran.

Tataloo’s case is not an isolated incident.

The Islamic Republic is known for its harsh policies against expressions deemed offensive to religion. “The singer was sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet,” stated a report from Europa Press, emphasizing the gravity of the accusation and the penalty imposed.

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“Holy Sh!t. Pun Intended”: Sequoia Partner Shaun Maguire Reveals Hunter Biden’s “Book Of Poop Art”

Let’s start with a comment from the X account Autism Capital: “Holy shit. Pun intended.”

The remark was in response to Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire’s post, which included an image of what he claims is Hunter Biden’s book of literal “poop art.”

“Hunter’s lawyers have been denying this happened,” Maguire said. 

For context, Maguire revealed on Sunday that Hunter owed his family $300,000 in back rent for a rental in Venice, California, from 2019 to 2020.

He continued, “Here’s a page from his book of poop art, which he tried to use to pay rent.” 

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‘Anti-Hate’ Art Exhibit in LA Featured Participants Kicking Around Donald Trump’s Head

An “art exhibit” in Los Angeles designed to protest against Donald Trump “spreading hate” featured participants kicking around a soccer ball shaped like the former president’s head.

Yes, really.

A a rubber or latex object made to look like Trump’s dome was booted around by players during an indoor game at Superchief Gallery in Los Angeles last weekend.

The art installation was created by a group called INDECLINE and was first debuted the Trump soccer ball four years ago when they invited people at the Mexican border to kick it around.

Laughably, the art collective claimed the point of the display was to demonstrate against Trump “spreading hate.”

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British gallery may lose prized £500,000 Renoir over claim Seated Nude is Nazi loot seized from original Jewish owners

A British gallery may be forced to give up a prized £500,000 Renoir after claims it could have been seized from its original Jewish owners by the Nazis.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Manchester Art Gallery is now treating the Impressionist painting – known as Seated Nude, from around 1897 – as a potential looted or ‘spoliated’ object.

The gallery has been approached by claimants who believe they may be the rightful owners of the oil painting.

If their claim of ownership is proved, the gallery could be forced to hand over the artwork.

Details of the investigation are included in a document obtained by the MoS under freedom of information laws.

It states: ‘This painting is under investigation as a spoliated object, which means it may have been stolen from or sold under duress by its Jewish owner during the period of Nazi power in Europe.’

Both sides agree that the artwork was once the property of Richard Semmel, a German-born Jewish art collector and entrepreneur.

Semmel and his wife Clara, who fled Germany for Holland in 1933, managed to arrange for the sale of about 70 of their artworks to pay for their living expenses.

It is believed the Renoir nude was offered up for the sale but did not sell.

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Shahzia Sikander Sculpture Beheaded at the University of Houston

A Shahzia Sikander statue at the University of Houston was vandalized following previous protests by right-wing groups.

The 18-foot-tall bronze monument to women and justice was beheaded in the early morning on July 8 while the campus was experiencing harsh weather and power outages due to Hurricane Beryl.

Footage of the vandalism was obtained by campus police, according to the New York Times, which first reported the news.

“We were disappointed to learn the statue was damaged early Monday morning as Hurricane Beryl was hitting Houston,” Kevin Quinn, the university’s executive director of media relations, said in an email to ARTnews. “The damage is believed to be intentional. The University of Houston Police Department is currently investigating the matter.”

The female figure, whose braided hair forms a pair of horns, wears a lacy collar in allusion to similar ones worn by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court justice.

The sculpture was installed in a plaza at the University of Houston after five months of display to critical acclaim at Madison Square Park in New York City. But when it traveled to Houston, it drew criticism from the anti-abortion Christian group Texas Right to Life, which called for a campus-wide protest “to keep the Satanic abortion idol out of Texas.” The University of Houston responded by cancelling a planned opening and artist talk, as well as choosing not to show an accompanying video work also by Sikander.

It’s worth noting that Sikander’s artist statement about the work contains no mention of Satanism. “The rams’ horns are universal symbols of strength and wisdom,” Sikander told Art in America earlier this year. “There is nothing Satanic about them.”

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