A planned Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center, a holiday tradition at the Washington, D.C., performing arts center dating back more than 20 years, has been canceled.
The show’s host, musician Chuck Redd, told The Associated Press he called off the performance after the White House announced last week that President Trump’s name would be added to the facility — drawing pushback from Democratic lawmakers and some scholars, who say the change violates the law. According to the White House, the president’s handpicked board approved the decision to rename the institution the Trump-Kennedy Center. The revised name later appeared on the building’s facade.
“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. Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player who has toured with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Ray Brown, has been presiding over 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 website lists the show as canceled.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law naming the center as a living memorial to him. The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees adding any additional memorials to the site.
The decision to rename the center has drawn steep criticism from congressional Democrats and some members of Kennedy’s family. Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio sued over the renaming Monday, calling it a “flagrant violation of the rule of law” and noting that the name can’t be changed without an act of Congress.
The center’s president, Richard Grenell, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, has argued that the center’s status as a memorial to Kennedy wasn’t changed.
Mr. Trump, a Republican, has been deeply involved with the center named for an iconic Democrat after mostly ignoring it during his first term. He has forced out its leadership, overhauled the board while arranging for himself to head it and personally hosted this year’s Kennedy Center honors, breaking a long tradition of presidents mostly serving as spectators.
Numerous artists have called off Kennedy Center performances since Mr. Trump returned to office, including Issa Rae and Peter Wolf. Lin-Manuel Miranda canceled a planned production of “Hamilton.”
