UPDATE: The National Endowment for the Arts Public Affairs Specialist Sally Gifford contacted The Washington Times and clarified that Mr. Sergant is still an employee at the NEA but is no longer Director of Communications.

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Yosi Sergant has been asked to resign from his post as Communications Director for the National Endowment for the Arts,  the Huffington Post is reporting:

At issue was an August conference call in which the NEA encouraged select artists to participate in an administration project dubbed "United We Serve" and led by the first lady.

The NEA released a statement:

"On August tenth, the National Endowment for the Arts participated in a call with arts organizations to inform them of the president's call to national service. The White House office of public engagement also participated in the call, which provided information on how the Corporation for National and Community Service can assist groups interested in sponsoring service projects or having their members volunteer on other projects. This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false. The NEA regularly does outreach to various organizations to inform of the work we are doing and the resources available to them."

The Washington Times Water Cooler has been covering this story since Patrick Courrielche first reported on Big Hollywood about an August 10th conference call  hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement, the NEA, and United We Serve.  Mr. Sergant, however, may only be a fall guy in this matter.  Others at the NEA were involved.

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