{"id":480549,"date":"2025-12-30T17:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T17:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/480549\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T17:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T17:58:12","slug":"jazz-group-cancels-performance-at-kennedy-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/480549\/","title":{"rendered":"Jazz group cancels performance at Kennedy Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

More artists have canceled scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center following the addition of President Donald Trump\u2019s name to the facility<\/a>, with jazz supergroup The Cookers pulling out of a planned New Year\u2019s Eve concert, and the institution\u2019s president saying the cancellations belie the artists\u2019 unwillingness to see their music as crossing lines of political disparity.<\/p>\n

The fresh round of cancellations after Trump put his name on the building follows an earlier artist backlash in spring. After Trump ousted the Kennedy Center board and named himself the institution\u2019s chairman in February, performer Issa Rae and the producers of \u201cHamilton\u201d cancelled scheduled engagements while musicians Ben Folds and Renee Fleming stepped down from advisory roles. <\/p>\n

The Cookers, a jazz supergroup performing together for nearly two decades, announced their withdrawal from \u201cA Jazz New Year\u2019s Eve\u201d on their website, saying the \u201cdecision has come together very quickly\u201d and acknowledging frustration from those who may have planned to attend. <\/p>\n

The group didn\u2019t mention the building\u2019s renaming or the Trump administration but did say that, when they return to performing, they wanted to ensure that \u201cthe room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it,\u201d reiterating a commitment \u201cto playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group may not have addressed the Kennedy Center situation directly, but one of its members has. On Saturday, saxophone player Billy Harper said in comments posted on the Jazz Stage Facebook page that he \u201cwould 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the White House, Trump\u2019s handpicked board approved the renaming<\/a>. Harper said both the board, \u201cas 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Grenell, a Trump ally whom the president chose to head the Kennedy Center after he forced out the previous leadership, posted Monday night on X that \u201cThe artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership,\u201d intimating the bookings were made under the Biden administration. <\/p>\n

In a statement to The Associated Press, Grenell said Tuesday the \u201dlast minute cancellations prove that they were always unwilling to perform for everyone \u2014 even those they disagree with politically,\u201d adding that the Kennedy Center had been \u201cflooded with inquiries from real artists willing to perform for everyone and who reject political statements in their artistry.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no immediate word from Kennedy Center officials if the entity would pursue legal action against the group, as Grenell said it would after musician Chuck Redd canceled a Christmas Eve performance<\/a>. Following that withdrawal, in which Redd cited the Kennedy Center renaming, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages for what he called a \u201cpolitical stunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all artists are calling off their shows. Bluegrass banjoist Randy Barrett, scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center next month, told the AP he was \u201cdeeply troubled by the politicization\u201d of the venue and respected those who had canceled but feels that \u201cour tribalized country needs more music and art, not less. It\u2019s one of the few things that can bring us together.\u201d <\/p>\n

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him. Scholars have said any changes to the building\u2019s name would need congressional approval; the law explicitly prohibits<\/a> the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person\u2019s name on the building\u2019s exterior.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Steven Sloan and Hillel Italie contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More artists have canceled scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center following the addition of President Donald Trump\u2019s name…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":480550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[217743,435,69,171,64821,57,84611,12790,975,80,2068,19500,19917,67,132,68,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-480549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-billy-harper","9":"tag-celebrity","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-eve","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-issa-rae","15":"tag-john-f-kennedy","16":"tag-music","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","19":"tag-racism","20":"tag-richard-grenell","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115809819316065924","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}