Musician Yasmin Williams has accused Ric Grenell, Trump’s gay hand-picked president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, of inviting members of the gay conservative Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) group to heckle her performance at the center’s Millennium Stage last Thursday.

The attendees booed Williams after her comments against the current presidential administration. The musician said several security guards had to escort her out of the building after the LCRs’ attempt to “intimidate and harass” her.

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In a public Facebook post published last Saturday, Williams shared an LCR newsletter for the group’s D.C. chapter, written by chapter president Andrew Minik, which said, “Liberal guitarist Yasmin Williams, will be giving a free performance prior to the meeting. She is apparently vocal opponent of President Trump and The Kennedy Center’s decision to hold a vigil for Charlie Kirk. Let’s make sure the audience is filled with patriots!”

Williams said she didn’t publicly criticize the center’s September 14 vigil for Kirk. She said, “The only thing I did was I shared their post about the vigil happening in my [Instagram] Story. I just shared it. I didn’t say anything, so I’m not sure where that [accusation] came from.”

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Williams wrote, “They even promoted an open bar for folks to drink and then come to my show. I’m certain that these folks have no interest in my music at all (or art itself), so why would they come?”

The LCR reportedly changed its September meeting venue to the Kennedy Center two days before Williams’ performance. Minik didn’t respond to a Washington Post request for comment about the incident.

Early into her performance, Williams explained that she agreed to perform to support the center’s staffers, but not Grenell or the center’s new board members, who were all picked by Trump last February. Trump and Grenell promised to end “anti-American” and drag performances at the venue (and then scheduled at least four drag performances afterward). Drag artists protested the decision, and ticket sales at the venue have plummeted ever since.

Williams told the audience, “I do not support the new board at all, I don’t support anyone affiliated with them, I don’t support anyone affiliated with the Trump administration at all — especially you, Ric Grenell. I am not a fan of yours at all.”

Some boos can be briefly heard in a video of her performance (below) after she mentioned Grenell. The boos were reportedly the only interruption during the show, The Washington Post reported. The hecklers left 15 minutes into her performance, though Williams said she saw a few red MAGA hats in the audience, the publication added.

“This is why I had to get escorted out of the building by several security guards,” Williams stated in her aforementioned Saturday post. “This is clearly a calculated attempt to intimidate and harass me at my own show, as well as the staff working the show. This is completely unacceptable and I will not allow this to go unnoticed. I will not be harassed and intimidated by anyone, especially these folks.”

Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi called Williams’ accusations “ridiculous,” telling The Washington Post, “There was no coordinated effort by the Kennedy Center. Grenell had no involvement. We did not even know they were coming.” Daravi also denied any security concerns over Williams’ exit.

“They did not heckle and frankly it is defamation of character for her to say that,” Daravi added. “She however bashed Grenell and the Center from the Kennedy Center stage. Republicans are patrons too and they are welcome at the Kennedy Center just like anyone else.”

The Log Cabin Republicans are very anti-LGBTQ+

LCR has long touted itself as the “nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies.” Despite this, LCR has increasingly endorsed anti-LGBTQ+ political candidates and policies that seek to ban LGBTQ+ content in schools and gender-affirming care for trans minors.

The LCR has defended Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill by comparing its opponents to pedophiles who have “wet dreams of gender fluid, indoctrinated, and groomed children.” The group’s former president, Charles Moran, has written op-eds opposing transgender civil rights and also the Equality Act, legislation seeking LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination protections. In 2023, the group named a racist homophobe as one of its ambassadors.

The group’s executive director, Jerri Ann Henry, called President Donald Trump’s numerous anti-LGBTQ+ policies “hiccups.” The organization endorsed 14 anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans during the 2018 midterm elections and 12 anti-LGBTQ+ extremists in 2020, including Trump, Mike Pence, and a woman who thinks pedophiles are part of the LGBTQ+ community.

More recently, Texas LCR members joined armed extremists to protest a drag show. The national organization continues to praise Trump and never condemned his incitement of the January 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. Other LCR chapters have compared President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler and called for Biden’s death.

Despite Moran’s claim in 2024 that “the national GOP platform has been stripped of all anti-LGBT language!” the GOP platform promised to ban LGBTQ+ content from schools and roll back legal protections for transgender people of all ages. The platform also promised “religious liberty” protections for Christians who discriminate against queer people.

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