More artists cancel Kennedy Center shows after addition of Trump’s name – National
The Cookers, a jazz group performing together for nearly two decades, pulled out of a planned New Year’s Eve concert, titled A Jazz New Year’s Eve. They announced their withdrawal on their website, saying the “decision has come together very quickly” while acknowledging frustration from those who planned to attend.
“Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice. Some of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us,” the Cookers wrote on their website. “We are not turning away from our audience, and do want to make sure that when we do return to the bandstand, the room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it.”
The group didn’t mention the building’s renaming or the Trump administration, but did say that their “hope is that this moment will leave space for reflection, not resentment.”
“To everyone who is disappointed or upset, we understand and share your sadness. We remain committed to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them,” they added.
One of its members mentioned the Kennedy Center renaming on Saturday in comments posted on the Jazz Stage Facebook page.
Saxophone player Billy Harper said he “would never even consider performing in a venue bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture. The same music I devoted my life to creating and advancing.”
“In fact, I am much more proud to have my name associated with the integration movement in Texas, and anti-racist activist organizations like Jazz and People’s Movement, Universal Jazz Coalition, Black Artists Collective and Strata East, just to name a few,” he continued. “The board running the center at this time, as well as the name displayed on the building itself represents a mentality and practices I always stood against. And still do, today more than ever.”
Harper said it’s “not just about me” and went on to list some of “the greatest heroes of the anti-racism fight like Max Roach and Randy Weston and Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Stanley Cowell,” who he said would “be turning in their graves to see me stand on a stage under such circumstances and betray all we fought for, and sacrificed for.”
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“But also betraying all the listeners that believed (and still do) in our cause and our music,” he wrote.
The Cookers’ drummer, Billy Hart, told the New York Times that the name change had “evidently” played a role in the group’s cancellation on Monday and said the group was concerned about possible reprisals.
Kristy Lee, who was scheduled to perform on Jan. 14, 2026, announced her cancellation on Instagram, writing, “I don’t have much power, and I don’t run with the big dogs who do. I’m just a folk singer from Alabama, slinging songs for a living.”
“I believe in the power of truth, and I believe in the power of people. And I’m gonna stand on that side forever,” Lee wrote. “I won’t lie to you, canceling shows hurts. This is how I keep the lights on. But losing my integrity would cost me more than any paycheck.”
Lee said America “didn’t get built by branding.”
“It got built by people showing up and doing the work. And the folks who carry it don’t need their name on it, they just show up. That’s all I’m doing here. I’m showing up,” she added.
Lee also said she is planning a “live show from home for anyone who wants to watch from their couch” on Jan. 14 instead of her Kennedy Center performance.
In another statement on her website, Lee said the cancellation was due to concerns for the centre’s “institutional integrity.”
“The Kennedy Center was established by Congress as a nonpartisan national cultural institution, honoring President John F. Kennedy’s belief that the arts are essential to democracy, free expression, and the public good. Recent efforts to impose political branding on the Center represent a departure from that mission and compromise the independence such an institution requires,” the statement read.
“As an artist, Kristy believes publicly funded cultural spaces must remain free from political capture, self-promotion, or ideological pressure. Performing under these circumstances would conflict with the values of artistic freedom, public trust, and constitutional principles that the Kennedy Center was created to uphold.”
Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York dance company, also said it was cancelling two performances in April 2026 that had been intended to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
Varone told the New York Times that it would lose US$40,000 by pulling out of the performances.
“It is financially devastating but morally exhilarating,” he said in an email.
Musician Chuck Redd cancelled a planned Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center last week in the wake of the White House announcing that Trump’s name would be added to the facility.
“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. 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.
The president of the Kennedy Center criticized Redd’s sudden decision to cancel the Christmas Eve performance at the venue on Friday.
“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” the venue’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to Redd that was shared with The Associated Press.
In the letter, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages “for this political stunt.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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