A scheduled Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center—an over-20-year holiday tradition—has been canceled. Musician Chuck Redd, the show’s host, says he called off the performance following last week’s White House announcement that a new name would be added to the facility.
As of last Friday, the venue is The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Per the White House, the president’s handpicked board approved the decision—a move scholars say violates the law. Trump had hinted for months he was open to changing the center’s name.
“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told The Associated Press in an email Wednesday. A drummer and vibraphone player who has toured with artists from Dizzy Gillespie to Ray Brown, Redd has overseen holiday “Jazz Jams” at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William “Keter” Betts.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The center’s lists the show as canceled.
President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the next year naming the center as a living memorial to him. Kerry Kennedy, the late president’s niece, has vowed to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office, and former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any changes must be approved by Congress.
the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.
Trump, a Republican, has become deeply involved with the center—named for a legendary Democrat—after mostly ignoring it during his first term. He has forced out its leadership, overhauled the board (arranging to head it himself), and personally hosted this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, breaking a long tradition where presidents mostly served as spectators. The Kennedy Center changes are part of the president’s larger mission to fight “woke” culture at federal cultural institutions.
Since Trump returned to office, numerous artists have canceled Kennedy Center performances—including Issa Rae and Peter Wolf. Lin-Manuel Miranda scrapped a planned production of “Hamilton.”