Members of presidential arts commission resigning to protest Trump’s comments

The remaining members of a presidential arts and humanities panel resigned on Friday in yet another sign of growing national protest of President Donald Trump’s recent comments on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Members of the President’s Committee are drawn from Broadway, Hollywood and the broader arts and entertainment community and they plan to release a letter explaining their decision, according to two people familiar with the decision who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about the plans.

The commission was established by President Ronald Reagan in 1982. It is among the dozens of mostly ceremonial White House commissions that advise the president on issues ranging from business matters to education policy and physical fitness.

Members of the commission are Obama-era holdovers, including the actor Kal Penn, a longtime Obama supporter and former White House staffer; director George C. Wolfe; painter and photographer Chuck Close; Jill Udall, the former head of cultural affairs for New Mexico and the wife of Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.; and entertainment executive Fred Goldring, who helped produce the “Yes We Can” video with musician Will.i.am in support of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Their decision comes after two White House corporate advisory boards also disbanded this week in protest of the president’s comments. Those two panels included top corporate executives from JP Morgan Chase, Under Armour, Intel and Merck, among others.

Some members of the arts and humanities commission quit after Trump’s victory last fall, but the remaining commissioners agreed to continue in their roles until Trump named successors, according to the two people familiar with their plans. In recent days, however, they agreed it was time to resign and have spent the last several days drafting a letter explaining their decision.

The panel’s move is yet another blow to Trump, who has become more isolated than ever from the Republican Party and corners of official Washington in the wake of his decision to defend the actions of some people who gathered at a rally in Charlottesville to protest the removal of a Confederate-era statue.

White House officials had no immediate comment.