Another Kennedy Center honoree (dancer Carmen de Lavallade) to boycott White House reception

[Miles Archer]

The 2017 Kennedy Center honorees: Actress, dancer and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade, singer-songwriter and actress Gloria Estefan, hip-hop artist LL COOL J, musician and record producer Lionel Richie, and television writer and producer Norman Lear. REUTERS/Staff/File Photos

Another Kennedy Center honoree to boycott White House reception

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/08/17/another-kennedy-center-honoree-to-boycott-white-house-reception/

Dancer Carmen de Lavallade said on Thursday that she would be honored to attend the Dec. 3 ceremony at the Kennedy Center, buuuut….

“In light of the socially divisive and morally caustic narrative that our current leadership is choosing to engage in, and in keeping with the principles that I and so many others have fought for, I will be declining the invitation to attend the reception at the White House,” she said in a written statement provided to the Washington Post.

She isn’t the only one sitting out the traditional to-do at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., hosted by the president and first lady. Television writer/producer Norman Lear, another of the chosen 2017 honorees, is skipping. And singer-songwriter Lionel Richie is a “maybe” — he said this week he was “playing it by ear.” Other honorees are taking a different approach: Cuban American singer Gloria Estefan has said she’ll go, in the hopes of bending Trump’s ear about the value of immigrants in American culture.

De Lavallade, 86, is a dancer, choreographer and actress who was a principal guest performer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and was one of the first African Americans to dance for the Metropolitan Opera. Though her home is in New York, her work has taken her close to Charlottesville, the scene of a deadly white supremacist rally this weekend, which Trump has been criticized for failing to sufficiently condemn.

[msongs]

1. maybe trump will skip the actual honors show. ugh, having to sit with him... nt

[elleng]

2. Right. Carmen de Lavallade, a Dance Legend, to Skip a White House Reception.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1031575

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. Another example of how the nazi fucks up everything that is great about America

These artists deserve their honor, they dont deserve it along side a nazi.

[Canoe52]

4. I can imagine tRump's tweet will be

"Losers not coming to White House"

[MyOwnPeace]

5. I can't believe..........

that ANY of them would actually attend ANYTHING related to dRump!
Yes, the event is fantastic - and all nominated are well-deserving - but to go through the event with that "TURD" in the special box - watching - and being honored - OMG, what a special awkward moment!