CNN is taking credit for prompting the firing of The Western Journal founder and former owner Floyd Brown, who only a month ago had taken a senior position at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The piece by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski describes Brown as a “far-right activist” who is a professing Christian and who has made statements in the past critical of the homosexual lifestyle and same-sex marriage.
The Bible identifies engaging in homosexual sex as sin in multiple passages, so Brown’s views are certainly mainline Christian teaching.
The very first chapter of the Bible, in Genesis, records, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
And it adds regarding marriage in chapter 2, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Jesus affirmed this truth in the New Testament by quoting form the Old, saying, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?”
In February, President Donald Trump announced that he was naming Ric Grenell as interim director of the Kennedy Center.
The president wrote on social media, “Ric shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST. RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!” In other words, no more woke.
I am pleased to announce that Ric Grenell will serve as the Interim Executive Director of The Kennedy Center. Ric shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN…
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 10, 2025
Do you think Trump will get involved in this situation?
Grenell has been a Trump loyalist dating back to his first term, when he was acting director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany.
By all appearances, he has acquitted himself well and is an effective communicator of Trump’s America First agenda.
He also identifies as homosexual and is married to a male spouse.
I imagine most MAGA supporters are like me, holding to a Libertarian view that adults should make their own life choices, and if he performs his official duties well, without discriminating against those who hold different moral views, that’s what matters.
However, in his decision to fire Brown, that does not look to be the case.
Brown posted on social media platform X, “I was fired yesterday by @RichardGrenell from the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. One month ago, I was recruited to join the Kennedy Center as a Vice President.
“My firing came approximately two hours after @CNN sent an email asking me to comment on my past writings and statements about traditional marriage and homosexual influence in the @GOP,” he added.
Brown further noted, “Comments rooted in my personal Christian views, which I have made in the past, have no impact upon my work here at the Kennedy Center nor do they impinge on my interactions with colleagues who do incredible work for the patrons of the Center. As a Christian I am called to work with others of different beliefs and worldviews.”
I was fired yesterday by @RichardGrenell from the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. One month ago, I was recruited to join the Kennedy Center as a Vice President. My firing came approximately two hours after @CNN sent an email asking me to comment on my past…
— Floyd Brown (@floydbrown) May 29, 2025
Jesus Christ certainly did not force anyone to believe he was the son of God, nor in the biblical truths he spoke about marriage or anything else. Societies, through their governments, must make decisions about all manner of moral issues like marriage, transgenders in sports, locker rooms, etc.
Brown recounted in his X post, “I asked for an explanation of my dismissal, and I asked to speak to @RichardGrenell — Both of those requests have been ignored.”
CNN reported, “A source familiar with the Kennedy Center confirmed to CNN that Brown is no longer there and said that Grenell had not met with Brown, did not know him, and was not involved in his hiring.”
Brown further wrote, “The only explanation is the one given to me at the time of my firing. ‘Floyd, you must recant your belief in traditional marriage and your past statements on the topic, or you will be fired.’ Needless to say, I refused to recant and was shown the door. My beliefs are much more common to Biblical Christianity.”
“My only conclusion is @RichardGrenell was intimidated by a @CNN story … so he preemptively fired me for my Christian beliefs on marriage.”
The Western Journal reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment and received an emailed response denying the accuracy of Brown’s post, without specifying what was untrue, and directing TWJ to the CNN story for further background.
That’s pretty weak. The Kennedy Center needs to go on record and say why they fired a prominent Christian in the MAGA movement.
Ironically, Brown wrote a bestselling book in 2023 titled “Counterpunch: An Unlikely Alliance of Americans Fighting Back for Faith and Freedom,” filled with MAGA views about the border, education, trade, reindustrializing America, etc.
Trump knows the pivotal role Christians played in his re-election.
Shortly after taking office, he issued an executive order titled “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” with directives to federal agencies to root it out in government and society.
Well, here’s a good opportunity to do so.
Brown should be reinstated immediately, with an apology from Grenell.
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