Report: Grenell denies claim of discriminatory firing at Kennedy Center
The Christian Post reported this week that a former official at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington claims he was fired by Ambassador Richard Grenell due to his religious beliefs regarding homosexuality.
A source said to be close to Grenell, who was America's first openly gay Cabinet member, has denied that he knew anything about the official's dismissal.
Firing follows CNN report
The official in question is author Floyd Brown, who founded the conservative news website Western Journal and was the subject of a CNN report late last month.
In it he was described as being an "anti-gay Obama conspiracy theorist" who stands in opposition to "the open promotion of the gay lifestyle inside the tent of conservatism."
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
CNN cited past remarks made by Brown, including his suggestion that GOP lawmakers preferred to hire gay men as they are less likely to have children.
Source: Grenell "did not know" Brown
"What most people don't understand is that many of the Republican members have homosexual staff, and the reason that they do is because the homosexuals, usually unlike me, I had two kids at home, I had a wife at home," CNN quoted Brown as saying.
Trump envoy 'didn't know' Kennedy Center VP fired after CNN report on his Christian beliefs: source https://t.co/uHQ57QTt4S
— The Christian Post (@ChristianPost) June 3, 2025
"I had responsibilities at home, and I needed to spend time with my children. And they don't. They didn't. They literally worked for the member 24/7 and then went out to Adams Morgan and had their gay sex, and then came back to work the next day," he added.
Gay icon's name poised for removal from Navy ship
Brown's allegation came just days after the Trump administration was condemned by Democrats for planning to remove the name of a gay rights icon from a U.S. Navy vessel.
In a report published on Tuesday, ABC News cited Department of Defense (DOD) sources who said that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has approved the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk.
Milk, who was given an "other than honorable" discharge from the Navy due to his homosexuality, went on to become a member of San Francisco Board of Supervisors before being assassinated in 1978.
The decision to remove Milk's name was welcomed by some conservatives, who pointed to allegations that the politician was also a sexual predator.