Arts World Update: I Need A Girl Joint
To the tune of Sabrina Carpenter's “Manchild”.....
Oh Boy.
The Metropolitan Opera House’s Marc Chagall mural, The Triumph of Music.
Photo: Niall Kennedy, Flickr creative commons.
Where do we even begin? Artists and conductors on the Epstein list, Met Opera is in complete financial disarray (honestly, god, what else is new), The Kennedy Center– much to discuss!
Let’s get it out of the way–The Metropolitan Opera and my hatred for Peter Gelb and their board of directors. The Met Opera is acting desperate and not to make it about me, but it reminds me of a time in my life where I was incredibly depressed and desperate to find any way to claw my way out of it, learning from that experience that when you’re desperate, depressed, and anxious, you make incredibly stupid decisions that aren’t really moving you toward what you want and a whole lot of financial ones.
If you haven’t been caught up to speed, The Metropolitan Opera announced Tuesday, January 20, 2026 that it would lay off 22 workers, cut top-paid executive salaries including General Manager Peter Gelb and Yannick Nézet-Séguin (which did I not complain about why they weren't doing that back in the Fall since they make between $1.4 million and $2.05 million, but I digress) and postpone a new production from its upcoming season, on top of considering selling the iconic and valuable Marc Chagall murals that have graced the Grand Tier, commissioned in the 1960s and valued by Sotheby's at $55 million (with the caveat the murals stay at the Met with a donor plaque). All of this due to concerns of the $200 million deal the Met announced with Saudi Arabia that no one wanted last year to subsidize the Met in exchange for the company performing at the Royal Diriyah Opera House near Riyadh three weeks each winter. Let us not forget the only reason the Saudi Arabia deal was struck was due to a fake donor scamming the Met Opera out of millions only to literally be found dead amidst the donation process.
Deep sigh. Moving on–
Jeff Koons is on the Jeffrey Epstein list. Are we even surprised? In a report by Hyperallergic, staff writer Isa Farfan notes its a “drop in the bucket” of art-world names, confirming for Koons, "In 2013, Epstein specifically requested that Koons attend a September 4 dinner party at his Upper East Side residence, an invitation Koons and his wife accepted via email," adding that the guest list also included director Woody Allen and MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld. Of others in the arts world found in the Epstein files is composer and conductor Frédéric Chaslin stating, “I want to make a clear and definitive statement. My name appears in certain documents made public because I have, occasionally and perfectly transparently, exchanged emails with Jeffrey Epstein between 2013 and 2019, in a then-trivial context where he was presented, like many others, as a possible patron of the arts. I only met him very rarely, always in the presence of my companion of that time or my wife; our meetings were strictly enrolled in this context.”
Jeff Koons in his studio, 1997. Photo: Ellen Von Unwerth/Art+Commerce
He added, “It is, however, totally inadmissible and inappropriate to imply that I would have “found a girl” for Jeffrey Epstein. The reality is simple and verifiable: he asked me to recommend an interpreter to accompany him in the visit of Parisian museums. I have put two emails together. This person contacted him, then eventually declined the proposal. No meeting took place and there never was a sequel. So this case is empty of any content, and any other reading is a clear distortion of facts.”
“Current interpretations are based on isolated sentences, out of context and loaded with intentions they never had. I formally refute these hints, which are not in line with the facts, the timeline, or the documents themselves. I have absolutely nothing to blame. However, I want to express my full and unwavering solidarity with the true victims of Jeffrey Epstein. Their suffering must never be exploited or obscured by unfounded generalizations. If I am speaking out today, it is solely to set the record straight and defend myself against defamation, without ever minimizing the very real crimes they have endured.”
According to documents in the Epstein files, Chaslin had lunches with Epstein and had conversations regarding the possibility of working with Woody Allen and the MeToo movement, noted by Operawire.
Photo: Eric Lee for The New York Times
Onto The Kennedy Center because yes, there’s more news about The Kennedy Center.
On Grammy night, Sunday, February 1, Trump announced he would shut The Kennedy Center down for two years for major renovations starting in July 2026, stating things were “falling out of the ceilings,” it's “actually sort of dangerous,” and “I’m not ripping it down,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure, we’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down.
Next time I’m writing about fun things. I’m getting myself a girl joint.
Writer: Karlye Whitt
Editor-in-Chief: Karlye Whitt
