Things got awkward on CNN’s NewsNight when MAGA Biggest Loser alum Jillian Michaels accused host Abby Phillip of “racializing” a discussion about the arts.
The panel was debating Trump’s latest attempt to control the prestigious Kennedy Center awards, dubbed by CNN a “political litmus test for the arts.”
It comes after The Kennedy Center Honors were handed out to a slate of figures that appear to be handpicked by Trump. These include Sylvester Stallone, Michael Crawford, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, and the band KISS.
After Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky said Trump’s moves at the Kennedy Center were part of a broader push from the president to “change culture,” including through reviews of Smithsonian exhibits, Michaels swerved the conversation toward slavery and gender testing in sports—while insisting she was merely pointing out what she sees as political bias in cultural institutions.
“Every single thing is like, oh, no, no, no, this is all because white people are bad,” Michaels said, before citing examples she claimed were pulled from Smithsonian exhibits. “People migrated from Cuba because white people bad, not because of Castro. Yes. No, it’s in there.”
Michaels then launched into a rant about a Smithsonian installation she called Change Your Game, which she said discussed the complexities of gender testing in sports. “It’s not complex. It’s basic science,” she declared. “Is it fair to have biological men competing against biological women in sports? No. But why is this in the Smithsonian?”
Phillip, looking taken aback, cut in to say that the panel didn’t have time to litigate everything Michaels was mentioning.
“Of course we don’t,” Michaels shot back. “Because then you’re going to lose the argument. And everything is racialized, just like you’re trying to do to me now.”
“Excuse me?” Phillip replied, clearly stunned. “Just to be clear. You brought up race. This was a conversation about the arts. And you brought up race.”
Michaels denied it, accusing Phillip of “strawmanning” her remarks. She insisted her point was that “making every single exhibit about white imperialism” is misleading. “When you’re talking about Cubans leaving Cuba and you make it about white people bad, that’s not accurate,” she said.
Phillip, maintaining her composure, finally moved the conversation along.
The Kennedy Center is an institution traditionally known for bipartisan celebration of the arts, but Trump’s makeover has given it a decidedly new bent.
The president’s honorees and his cultural agenda are already drawing fire from critics who say the move is more about rewarding political loyalty than artistic achievements.
Jack Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy’s grandson, publicly denounced a proposed plan by Republican lawmakers to rename parts of the Kennedy Center after Donald and Melania Trump.
“This isn’t about the arts,” he said in July. “Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK.”
Trump has parachuted himself in as chairman of the board and installed political lackeys, like former foreign policy adviser Ric Grenell, in influential positions.
He previously made his feelings clear about past nominees for the center’s honors. “In the past, I mean, these are radical left lunatics that have been chosen. I didn’t like it. I couldn’t watch it,” he said in March, according to audio of a meeting obtained by the Washington Post.
“We’ll go slightly more conservative, if you don’t mind, with some of the people,” Trump said, referring to future honorees. That wish appears to have come true.
