A long-running Christmas Eve jazz concert at Washington’s Kennedy Center has been abruptly canceled after its host objected to the venue’s newly updated name, which now includes President Donald Trump.
Chuck Redd, a veteran jazz drummer and vibraphonist who has led the annual holiday performance for nearly ten years, announced Friday that he was pulling out of the event. His decision came shortly after the White House confirmed that the Kennedy Center had been rebranded as the Trump–Kennedy Center.
Redd said he made the call after seeing the updated name appear first on the Kennedy Center’s website and then on the building itself. In an email to the Associated Press, he explained that the change left him with no choice but to cancel the Christmas Eve show, which has been a seasonal tradition for more than two decades.
The name change was approved on December 18 by the Kennedy Center’s board, now dominated by Trump allies. Trump, 79, became chair of the board in February following a reshuffling of its members.
The new signage on the building reads: The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Since the change, legal challenges have followed. Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, an ex officio trustee of the center, has filed a lawsuit arguing that the rebranding is invalid because only Congress has the authority to alter the center’s official name.
The canceled jazz concert is not the only cultural fallout from the decision. Folk singer Kristy Lee also withdrew from a scheduled January 14 performance at the center, citing concerns over what she described as the rewriting of American history to serve personal political interests.
“When history starts being treated as something that can be renamed or reshaped for someone’s ego, I can’t stand on that stage with a clear conscience,” Lee wrote in a statement posted on Facebook.
Other prominent artists have followed suit. Issa Rae, Peter Wolf, and Lin-Manuel Miranda have all canceled or withdrawn planned appearances, including a proposed run of Hamilton, in protest of the name change.
The Kennedy Center was created through bipartisan legislation signed into law in 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, with the goal of establishing a National Cultural Center in the nation’s capital. President John F. Kennedy later spearheaded a $30 million fundraising campaign to bring the project to life.
Following Kennedy’s assassination, Congress formally renamed the center in his honor. The change was enacted through legislation signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, cementing the venue’s role as both a cultural landmark and a memorial.
The Daily Beast reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment regarding the canceled concert but had not received a response at the time of publication.
If you find my content helpful, consider buying me a coffee to show your appreciation and help me continue creating.
Buy Me a Coffee