All but one of Trump’s Arts and Humanities council QUIT

All but one of the members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities resigned on Friday in response to Donald Trump’s comments on the violence that erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The 16 resigning members of the committee, including actor Kal Penn and artist Chuck Close, were selected by former President Barack Obama during his term and held on to their positions when Trump came into office.

Penn announced that the remaining committee members were resigning in a letter he shared on Twitter. The first letter of each paragraph spells out ‘RESIST’.  

‘Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions,’ they wrote in the letter. ‘We took a patriotic oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’ 

First Lady Melania Trump is the honorary chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

The 16 resigning members of the committee, including House actor Kal Penn (pictured), cited Donald Trump’s comments on the violence that erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as a reason for resigning

Artist Chuck Close was among the 16 members of the committee who announced in a joint statement that they were resigning on Friday

Artist Chuck Close was among the 16 members of the committee who announced in a joint statement that they were resigning on Friday

The 16 resigning members of the committee were selected by former President Barack Obama during his term and held on to their positions when Trump came into office

The 16 resigning members of the committee were selected by former President Barack Obama during his term and held on to their positions when Trump came into office

Members who have signed the letter include: Penn, Close, Paula Boggs, Richard Cohen, Fred Goldring, Howard L. Gottlieb, Vicki Kennedy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anne Luzzatto, Thom Mayne, Eric Ortner, Ken Solomon, Caroline Taylor, Jill Cooper Udall, Andrew Weinstein, and John Lloyd Young​. 

The only member not signing was Broadway director George C Wolfe. Representatives for Wolfe at Creative Arts Agency did not have any immediate comment on whether he had resigned. 

A number of committee members quit after Trump was elected president in November 2016, and those who remained were all appointed by Obama. 

They had agreed to remain on the committee until Trump named their replacements, and eight months into his presidency, he had not done so.   

Their letter on Friday said: ‘Supremacy, discrimination, and vitriol are not American values. Your values are not American values. We must be better than this. We are better than this. If this is not clear to you, then we call on you to resign your office, too.’ 

Former Starbucks executive and musician Paula Boggs was one of the 16 to sign the resignation letter

Former Starbucks executive and musician Paula Boggs was one of the 16 to sign the resignation letter

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen was among those resigning

Entertainment lawyer Fred Goldring was among those resigning

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen (left) and entertainment lawyer Fred Goldring (right) have also resigned on the committee

Investment banker and accomplished violinist Howard Gottlieb (left, with Emanuel Ax and Barbara Greis) also resigned

Investment banker and accomplished violinist Howard Gottlieb (left, with Emanuel Ax and Barbara Greis) also resigned

Lawyer Victoria Anne Reggie Kennedy, who is the second wife and widow of longtime US Senator Ted Kennedy, is also resigning

Lawyer Victoria Anne Reggie Kennedy, who is the second wife and widow of longtime US Senator Ted Kennedy, is also resigning

A day earlier, Trump has abandoned plans to create an infrastructure advisory council, the White House said on Thursday, the day after two other advisory groups were dismantled over the furor caused by Trump’s remarks on white supremacists.

‘The President’s Advisory Council on Infrastructure, which was still being formed, will not move forward,’ a White House official said.

On Wednesday, Trump disbanded two high-profile advisory groups after several chief executives quit in protest over his remarks blaming violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend on anti-racism activists as well as white nationalists.

Trump said he dissolved the American Manufacturing Council and the Strategic and Policy Forum ‘rather than putting pressure’ on its members, although both groups were preparing to disband on their own when Trump made his announcement on Twitter.

The snubs from chief executives raised questions about Trump’s ability to marshal the business community behind his policy goals.

Author Jhumpa Lahiri was on the list of people who resigned

Chairman of Ovation TV, Ken Solomon, also signed the letter of resignation

Author Jhumpa Lahiri (left) and chairman of Ovation TV, Ken Solomon (right), also signed the letter of resignation

Anne Luzzatto (pictured center with Gordon Litwin and Victoria Harmon), who also served as Obama-Biden Transition Team review lead for the National Endowment for the Arts, resigned on Friday

Anne Luzzatto (pictured center with Gordon Litwin and Victoria Harmon), who also served as Obama-Biden Transition Team review lead for the National Endowment for the Arts, resigned on Friday

Architect Thom Mayne was among the 16 to resign on Friday. The only person not to resign from the council was Broadway director George C Wolfe

Architect Thom Mayne was among the 16 to resign on Friday. The only person not to resign from the council was Broadway director George C Wolfe

Producer and talent manager Eric Ortner resigned on Friday

Singer John Lloyd Young also resigned

Producer and talent manager Eric Ortner (left) and singer John Lloyd Young were among those resigning on Friday

Long-time arts advocate Jill Cooper Udall, left with William Adams, resigned from the committee on Friday

Long-time arts advocate Jill Cooper Udall, left with William Adams, resigned from the committee on Friday

Caroline Taylor, the wife of singer James Taylor (pictured together above) also resigned on Friday

Caroline Taylor, the wife of singer James Taylor (pictured together above) also resigned on Friday

Trump blamed white nationalists and counter-protesters in equal measure for the weekend clashes that left one woman dead.

The president accused the protesters, who rallied against neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, of being ‘very, very violent’.

Trump’s assessment that there was ‘blame on both sides’ for the deadly melee sparked a rare comment on current affairs from his two Republican predecessors, George Bush and George W Bush, who called on Americans to ‘reject racial bigotry… in all its forms’.

Trump’s defiant statements, delivered on Tuesday at Trump Tower and immediately hailed by a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan for their ‘courage’, left many lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, speechless. 

The arts and humanities committee was established in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

FULL LETTER TO TRUMP FROM THE PRESIDENT’S COMMITTEE ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES

‘Dear Mr. President:

‘Reproach and censure in the strongest possible terms are necessary following your support of the hate groups and terrorists who killed and injured fellow Americans in Charlottesville. The false equivalencies you push cannot stand. 

‘The Administration’s refusal to quickly and unequivocally condemn the cancer of hatred only further emboldens those who wish America ill. We cannot sit idly by, the way that your West Wing advisors have, without speaking out against your words and actions. 

‘We are members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH). The Committee was created in 1982 under President Reagan to advise the White House on cultural issues. 

‘We were hopeful that continuing to serve in the PCAH would allow us to focus on the important work the committee does with your federal partners and the private sector to address, initiate, and support key policies and programs in the arts and humanities for all Americans. 

‘Effective immediately, please accept our resignation from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

‘Elevating any group that threatens and discriminates on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, disability, orientation, background, or identity is un-American. 

‘We have fought slavery, segregation, and internment. We must learn from our rich and often painful history. The unified fabric of America is made by patriotic individuals from backgrounds as vast as the nation is strong. 

‘In our service to the American people, we have experienced this first-hand as we traveled and built the Turnaround Arts education program, now in many urban and rural schools across the country from Florida to Wisconsin.

‘Speaking truth to power is never easy, Mr. President. But it is our role as commissioners on the PCAH to do so. Art is about inclusion. The Humanities include a vibrant free press. You have attacked both. 

‘You released a budget which eliminates arts and culture agencies. You have threatened nuclear war while gutting diplomacy funding. 

‘The Administration pulled out of the Paris agreement, filed an amicus brief undermining the Civil Rights Act, and attacked our brave trans service members. 

‘You have subverted equal protections, and are committed to banning Muslims and refugee women & children from our great country. This does not unify the nation we all love. 

‘We know the importance of open and free dialogue through our work in the cultural diplomacy realm, most recently with the first-ever US Government arts and culture delegation to Cuba, a country without the same First Amendment protections we enjoy here. 

‘Your words and actions push us all further away from the freedoms we are guaranteed.

‘Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions. We took a patriotic oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

‘Supremacy, discrimination, and vitriol are not American values. Your values are not American values. We must be better than this. We are better than this. If this is not clear to you, then we call on you to resign your office, too.’

The letter is signed by Paula Boggs, Chuck Close, Richard Cohen, Fred Goldring, Howard L Gottlieb, Vicki Kennedy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anne Luzzatto, Thom Mayne, Klapen Modi (Kal Penn), Eric Ortner, Ken Solomon, Caroline Taylor, Jill Cooper Udall, Andrew Weinstein and John Lloyd Young.

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk