Particle.news
Download on the App Store
46 ARTICLES
·
51m ago

Artists Cancel Kennedy Center Shows After Trump Renaming

A federal lawsuit argues only Congress can change the memorial’s name.

New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Center, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Demonstrators, including Nadine Siler, of Waldorf, Md., dressed in a pink frog costume, hold up signs at a designated protest point in front of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, a day after a Trump-appointed board voted to add President Donald Trump's name to the Kennedy Center, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
he Cookers perform at the NYC Winter JazzFest 2015 at Greenwich Village's Minetta Lane Theatre, New York, New York, January 10, 2015. Pictured are, from left, Billy Harper on tenor saxophone, David Weiss on trumpet, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, and Donald Harrison on alto saxophone. (Photo by Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images)
Workers add President Donald Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, after a Trump-appointed board voted to rename the institution, in Washington, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Overview

  • The Cookers withdrew from two New Year’s Eve concerts, and drummer Billy Hart said the name change “evidently” influenced the decision.
  • Doug Varone and Dancers canceled April performances, citing the renaming and estimating a $40,000 loss from pulling out.
  • Jazz musician Chuck Redd scrapped his Christmas Eve Jazz Jam after the rebranding, and Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell threatened to seek $1 million in damages.
  • Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio trustee, sued to block the renaming on grounds that altering a congressionally designated memorial requires an act of Congress.
  • The board voted on Dec. 18 to add President Donald Trump’s name, and updated signage and the website went live the next day as leadership defended the change and criticized canceling artists.