Former Artistic Advisor to the Kennedy Center, Ben Folds, is speaking out about the Kennedy Center and why he left.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Folds compared the new regime led by Donald Trump to North Korea and said, “My friends that I left behind there, they we were in very different positions (than me). They’re kind of trapped in that environment. No one knows their name. But for me, it’s lending my name to help stand for, you know, some kind of North Korean vibe.”

He added, “It wasn’t the politics so much as it’s a partisan takeover, which is a very authoritarian thing to do. You’re supposed to have a firewall between politics, the government, and the Arts Center.”

Folds also noted that the new administration has driven all the donors out and noted that the current situation is bad. He also noted that when he was at the Kennedy Center, he was there because he had a mission and the current administration is only there to “further their political agenda.”

In response to Folds’ comments, Executive Director Richard Grenell, in his usual attack mode, told the Washington Reporter, “Ben Folds was a disastrous artistic director. He would have been fired if he had stayed 1 day under my leadership. He was paid $200k by the people before me to do a total of 3 shows – and all 3 shows netted $35k in total, BEFORE he was paid. So he can never return to the Kennedy Center under my tenure because his ideas are not supported by the market. In fact, he’s been rejected by the community — he couldn’t sell tickets or get sponsors.”

Under the new leadership of Trump and Grenell, the Kennedy Center has reportedly seen ticket sales and subscriptions decrease. Additionally, Grenell has been reported to not be around the Kennedy Center since he took power.