Orioles owner and control person David Rubenstein issued a statement directed at the current and former employees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after he was formally removed from his position as chairman.

President Donald Trump last week posted his intentions to remake the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, which had been led by Rubenstein since 2010, and serve as chairman.

In a post a Thursday morning post on X, Rubenstein apologized to former Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter and others for not being able to be in Washington, D.C., with them Wednesday, when the new board appointed Trump as chairman and fired Rutter, according to The Washington Post.

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“The Kennedy Center team, led by Deborah, has done an extraordinary job supporting the Kennedy Center over many years and through a number of difficult times, thereby helping to make the Center the beacon for the performing arts its founders intended,” Rubenstein wrote.

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“Thanks for what Deborah and all of you have done for the American people. President Kennedy would be proud of your selfless work, your long hours, your commitment to excellence, and your dedication to the performing arts.”

The Post reported that Rutter, who had served as president since 2014, was in tears when she addressed a room of staffers after the vote.

“I hope I’m not saying goodbye as a friend and colleague to all of you, but I am leaving now,” Rutter said. “And I just want us to keep these ideals that we wear in our lanyard central to the work that we do. And they are from JFK and his family. They were the ones that confirmed them and added one. So let’s remember: courage, justice, freedom, service and gratitude.”

Rutter had previously announced plans to step down at the end of the year. Rubenstein, meanwhile, had pledged to stay on as chairman until September 2026.

Speaking with reporters from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump talked about his plans to serve as Kennedy Center chairman and said “we’re going to make sure that it’s good and it’s not going to be woke.”

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The day before, aboard Air Force One, he said “some of the shows were terrible.”

He then said he hadn’t attended any performances at the Kennedy Center.

“I get reports they were so bad,” Trump said. “I didn’t want to go, there was nothing I wanted to see.”