The longtime host of the Kennedy Center’s annual Christmas Eve jazz performance said he canceled Wednesday’s concert following the board of trustees’ move to rename the facility for both the 35th president and President Donald Trump.
“I did choose to cancel our Kennedy Center Christmas Eve Jazz Jam when I saw the name change happening last Friday,” Chuck Redd, a drummer and vibraphonist, said in a statement to CNN.
The cancelation marks the latest backlash after the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted last week to rename the facility the “Trump Kennedy Center.” The move quickly sparked outrage from the former president’s family, lawmakers and patrons of the historic center and concerns about legality.
In the hours after the vote, the Washington, DC, performing arts center updated its website and the following day installed new signage to the facade of the building bearing Trump’s name. CNN reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment on the canceled show. TheAssociated Press previously reported that the performance had been called off.
The jazz performance is a yearly holiday tradition held at the Kennedy Center. Prior to its cancelation, the concert offered both an in-person and a livestream option for spectators looking to share in holiday cheer.
Redd, who said he has led this concert since 2006 after inheriting the position from the late jazz bassist Keter Betts, told CNN there is currently no plan to reschedule the performance.
The performer is no stranger to the DC music scene. He served as a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra for 15 years and an artist-in-residence at The Smithsonian Jazz Café from 2004 to 2008, according to his website.
“I’ve been performing at the Kennedy Center since the beginning of my career and I was saddened to see this name change,” Redd said.
The effort to rename the building has raised legal concerns as to whether the board has the authority to rename the arts institution, which Congress designated in 1964 as a memorial to the assassinated Democratic president.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and an ex-officio trustee of the center, brought a lawsuit challenging the board of trustees’ move on Monday.
Beatty alleges the vote by the center’s board of trustees to add Trump’s name went beyond the authority given to the board by Congress.
Trump, who was elected chair by a newly constituted board in February, has frequently joked about calling the performing arts center the “Trump Kennedy Center.” The president’s handpicked board approved his wishes at a board meeting last week, according to a source familiar with the matter, during which Trump also called in.
Days after returning to office, Trump announced an aggressive plan to gut the existing board of trustees and oust its chairman, the billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein. Since then, he’s led an effort to reshape the institution to his taste: reshaping its leadership, securing multimillion-dollar congressional funding for renovations, and reimagining its programming.
From remodeling to renaming, the president’s desire to leave his mark on Washington has been a key focus of his second term. At the White House, Trump deemed the historic rose garden ripe for change, paving over it with white stone, and excavators have torn out the East Wing to make way for a massive new ballroom.
To celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year, Trump envisions a new triumphal arch across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial.
By CNN
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