A planned Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center was canceled, with the host of the longtime annual performance attributing the decision to the addition of Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s name to the institution in Washington.
The board of the Kennedy Center, which the president filled with allies during a broad takeover earlier this year, decided last week to add Trump’s name to the institution, horrifying Democrats and raising questions about the legality of the change.
The board voted to rename the Washington landmark The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, or Trump Kennedy Center for short.
“Christmas Eve Jazz Jam (Canceled),” the website of the institution said as of late on Wednesday.
“I did choose to cancel our Kennedy Center Christmas Eve Jazz Jam when I saw the name change happening last Friday,” said the host of the show, musician Chuck Redd.
CNN reported that Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player who has led this concert since 2006, does not currently plan to reschedule the performance. The Associated Press first reported the cancellation.
President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him, the AP noted. Kennedy niece Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office and former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any changes would have to be approved by Congress.
The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.
Trump has been eager to put his stamp on Washington and his name on buildings. His critics say he has attempted to compromise traditional U.S. institutions by installing loyalists and making funding threats. Trump argues he is tackling what he terms as those institutions’ liberal bias.
Trump ousted members of the board appointed by then-President Joe Biden, took over as chairman and installed Richard Grenell, a longtime ally and former ambassador to Germany, as the center’s president.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
