NEW YORK (AP) — A Christmas Eve jazz concert scheduled for the Kennedy Center has been canceled, a holiday tradition that dates back more than 20 years. The show’s host, musician Chuck Reade, said he canceled the show after the White House announced last week that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.
As of Friday, the building’s facade read “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” According to the White House, a committee hand-picked by the president approved the decision, which academics said violated the law. Trump has signaled for months that he would be willing to change the center’s name.
“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and a few hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Reade 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 hosting the Kennedy Center’s holiday “Jazz” events 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 Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center his living memorial. Kennedy’s niece Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office, and former House historian Ray Smoak is among those who say any changes must be approved by Congress.
The law specifically prohibits the board from turning the center into a memorial to anyone or from etching someone else’s name on the exterior of the building.
Trump, a Republican, largely ignored the center named after the Democratic icon during his first term, but he has remained deeply involved in its development. He forcibly ousted the board’s leadership and overhauled the board while installing himself as board chairman and personally hosting this year’s Kennedy Center Awards ceremony, breaking with a long-standing tradition in which presidents mostly acted as spectators. The changes at the Kennedy Center are part of the president’s larger mission to combat “woke” culture at federal cultural institutions.
Many artists have canceled performances at the Kennedy Center since Trump returned to office, including Issa Rae and Peter Wolff. Lin-Manuel Miranda cancels production on ‘Hamilton’.