By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-03-21 02:06:03 | Updated at 2025-03-27 23:41:55
6 days ago
He’s got a bone to pick.
A contract worker at the Kennedy Center stripped naked and delivered a prattling monologue in a video posted online to protest President Trump’s takeover of the celebrated cultural institution.
Tavish Forsyth, who serves as program director at the Kennedy Center’s Opera Institute, gave the world both an eyeful and an earful with a cringe-inducing 35-minute clip posted to his lightly-followed social media accounts on Wednesday.
“Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center and that’s a place where I work,” a clothed Forsyth said while sitting side-saddle on a bed, footage posted to X and YouTube shows.
“He vowed to ban drag performers from [the Center’s] stages, and as the saying goes, ‘We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag.’”
Forsyth, 32, then snaps his fingers, and after a clunky video transition, appears completely naked for the remainder of the video in which he performatively deliberates on whether or not he should resign his position while exposing his genitals.
“F–k Donald Trump and the Kennedy Center,” Forsyth said at the outset of his self-inflicted struggle session.
“But on the other hand, does staying, holding the line, and living to fight another day — do I take up space and defend the vision of this institution that is diverse and inclusive, unlike Trump’s vision for America?”
The birthday suit-wearing performance artist lambasted the president’s plan to revamp and de-wokify the Kennedy Center, which was announced last month.
“In truth, our program is radically shaped by a DEI initiative. Our program is DEI — is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. And Vice President Trump [sic] has declared this to be illegal,” Forsyth claimed.
Forsyth went on to refer to the Kennedy Center, which has a budget of $45 million, as a “glorified community center” that is experiencing a hostile takeover.
The federal employee expressed harshly critical views of the United States.
“Being pro-genocide is all America has ever done,” Forsyth stated at one point during the screed, adding shortly thereafter, “The revolution is now.”
“Death awaits us all, and America is no exception,” the meager-framed Forsyth intoned at one point during the over-wrought diatribe.
He also took aim at Elon Musk, referring to the DOGE chief as an “authoritarian” and a “Nazi.”
Trump recently appointed himself as chair of the Kennedy Center and vowed to establish a “Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
A bio on the Kennedy Center website describes Forsyth as a “queer artist and educator with Celtic roots.”
“Centering healing, queerness, and connection in his work, Tavish empowers individuals to unleash their imagination and embody their freedom,” the bio, which appears to have been removed from the Kennedy Center website, stated.
The performative radical previously worked as a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Leadership Education, according to his bio.
Forsyth also founded Bird City Improv, a “liberation-focused” improv school.
The version of the video posted to YouTube received less than 250 views and merely 15 likes at the time of publication. Forsyth digitally blurs his bare groin with a rainbow heart in that video, which bears a warning from YouTube for explicit content.
After more than 24 hours on X, the video accumulated a paltry six likes.
Neither Forsyth nor the Kennedy Center responded to The Post’s request for comment.
