Live Nation has elected acting Kennedy Center president and Donald Trump ally Richard Grenell to its board of directors, according to a recent disclosure from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Grenell was appointed to run the federally owned performing arts center in February following a Trump-led shakeup that saw the President appoint himself chairman of the Kennedy Center board. He served as both acting director of national intelligence and the U.S. ambassador to Germany during the first Trump presidential term, becoming the first openly gay cabinet-level official to serve a U.S. president.
Grenell’s appointment to Live Nation comes as the concert promoter navigates an ongoing antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. Company president Joe Berchtold told investors in February that he was hopeful that incoming assistant U.S. attorney for antitrust Gail Slater was open to settling the case without forcing the breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which former Attorney General Merrick Garland had called for.
“Is there a path towards a resolution with the DOJ that doesn’t lead to the trial?” Berchtold said on a February investor call, weeks before Slater was officially sworn in. “We haven’t had any discussions yet. The person that you would discuss it with has not been approved yet, not been appointed. So until that happens, there’s nothing we can do.”
Records also show Live Nation donated $500,000 to Trump’s inauguration committee.
Grenell is said to be a loyal Trump ally who also served as a special envoy to Serbia and Kosovo during Trump’s first term. A Harvard graduate, he was first appointed by former President George W. Bush to represent the U.S. State Department at the United Nations.
Trump tapped Grenell to run the Kennedy Center in February after firing Deborah F. Rutter, who had run the prestigious performing arts center for more than a decade. On Monday, during a speech at the White House, Grenell accused Rutter of “fraud” for alleged financial mismanagement of the Kennedy Center, stating, “It’s criminal. We’re going to refer this to the U.S. attorney’s office.”
Rutter responded, issuing a statement that read in part, “I am deeply troubled by the false allegations regarding the management of the Kennedy Center being made by people without the context or expertise to understand the complexities involved in nonprofit and arts management.”
