Share and Follow

NEW YORK (AP) — A longstanding Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center, a cherished tradition for over two decades, has been canceled. The event’s host, musician Chuck Redd, decided to cancel the performance following the recent announcement that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the venue.
As of last Friday, the building is now titled The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. This decision, approved by a board selected by the president, has been met with criticism from scholars who argue it breaches legal guidelines. For months, Trump had expressed an interest in modifying the center’s name.
The Kennedy Center has yet to issue a response to inquiries regarding the decision. Its website currently lists the concert as canceled.
Established as a tribute after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, the Kennedy Center was officially designated a living memorial to him by Congress the following year. Kerry Kennedy, President Kennedy’s niece, has pledged to remove Trump’s name once he is no longer in office. Former House historian Ray Smock and others maintain that any alterations would require Congressional approval.
Current legislation explicitly prevents the board of trustees from dedicating the center as a memorial to anyone else or from displaying another individual’s name on the building’s exterior.
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. The changes at the Kennedy Center are part of the president’s larger mission to fight “woke” culture at federal cultural institutions.
Numerous artists have called off Kennedy Center performances since Trump returned to office, including Issa Rae and Peter Wolf. Lin-Manuel Miranda canceled a planned production of “Hamilton.”