{"id":379397,"date":"2025-12-31T07:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T07:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/379397\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T07:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T07:45:09","slug":"artists-cancel-2026-kennedy-center-performances-after-building-is-renamed-after-president-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/379397\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists Cancel 2026 Kennedy Center Performances After Building Is Renamed After President Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple performers are pulling out of their scheduled performances at the John F. Kennedy Center<\/a> for the Performing Arts, seemingly because of President Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the National Enquirer reported earlier this month, a Trump-appointed board<\/a> voted to change the name of the historic arts center to the Trump-Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n

On Monday, December 29, the jazz band The Cookers announced they would no longer be going forward with their New Year\u2019s Eve performances.<\/p>\n

\"Kennedy<\/p>\n

ZUMAPRESS.com \/ MEGA<\/p>\n

\u201cJazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice,\u201d a statement on their website<\/a> read. \u201cSome of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d the band\u2019s statement continued. \u201cOur hope is that this moment will leave space for reflection, not resentment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s drummer, Billy Hart, told The New York Times<\/a> that the name change had \u201cevidently\u201d shaped their decision not to perform.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

ZUMAPRESS.com \/ MEGA<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the dance company Doug Varone and Dancers took to Instagram<\/a> on Monday to announce they were cancelling their upcoming performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we totally disagreed with the takeover by the Trump Administration at the Kennedy Center, we still believed it was important to honor our engagement out of respect for both Jane Raleigh and Alicia Adams, who curated a first-rate dance season, as well as for the dance audiences in DC,\u201d they wrote in part. \u201cHowever, with the latest act of Donald J. Trump renaming the Center after himself, we can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story Artists Cancel 2026 Kennedy Center Performances After Building Is Renamed After President Trump<\/a> first appeared on National Enquirer<\/a>. Add National Enquirer as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n