MoveOn Petition in partnership with Qommittee has started a petition calling to suspend funding of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts amid Donald Trump’s takeover.

The petition, which has acquired nearly 100,000 signatures, comes in the wake of Trump adding his name to the Center, and the subsequent wave of artists canceling their shows in protest.

The petition states, “The response to President Trump’s unprecedented Kennedy Center takeover, censorship and drag ban has been overwhelming – major artists canceling shows, board members resigning, and ticket sales plummeting 50 percent. The Kennedy Center belongs to all Americans. When the government starts banning certain types of performances from our stages, it sets a dangerous precedent for all artistic expression.”

The petition added, “While Trump won’t back down, the donors who contribute nearly $100 million annually to the Kennedy Center can afford to take a stand. Money talks. When donors fund censorship, they don’t just harm one institution – they tell marginalized communities their stories don’t deserve to be told.”

Qommittee is a national network of drag artists and allies led by survivors of hate crimes such as the Pulse and Club Q mass shootings, a firebombing at an Ohio church, and an attack on a power grid in North Carolina.

This is the latest protest to the Kennedy Center following the president renaming it in his name. So far major artists have canceled their performances including Stephen Schwartz, Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Cookers, Doug Varone and Dancers, Kristy Lee, Chuck Redd, and the team of “Fellow Travelers.”

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