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A Christmas Eve jazz concert held annually for two decades at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was canceled by its host this year in protest of the addition of Donald Trump‘s name to the Washington, D.C., building.
Chuck Redd, a jazz drummer and vibraphonist who has hosted the annual holiday “Jazz Jams“ at the Kennedy Center since 2006 (he took over for previous host Keter Betts, a jazz bassist who died in 2005), told the Associated Press last night that he decided to drop this year’s event after Trump’s name was added to the venue by its Trump-appointed board.
“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told The Associated Press. The concert would have included performances from seven jazz musicians.
The addition of Trump’s name to the venue appears to be in violation of a 1964 law that prohibits the addition of names or memorials to anyone other than John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated in 1963. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) filed a lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking a declaration that the name of the arts institution is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and that a board vote last week to change the name is null and void.
“Because Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress,” Beatty’s lawsuit stated. “But on December 18 and 19, 2025—in scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic—the sitting President and his handpicked loyalists renamed this storied center after President Trump. This is a flagrant violation of the rule of law, and it flies in the face of our constitutional order. Congress intended the Center to be a living memorial to President Kennedy—and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party. Unless and until this Court intervenes, Defendants will continue to defy Congress and thwart the law for improper ends.”
After Trump’s name was added to the venue, Roma Daravi, spokeswoman for the center, defended the board’s authority to change the name. “This action is in line with the precedent of the State Department adding President Trump’s name to the Institute of Peace. And the previous Administration renaming military bases.” she said in a statement. (The renaming of the military bases that had Confederate names was authorized by an act of Congress in 2021.)
Source : https://deadline.com/2025/12/kennedy-center-jazz-concert-trump-1236656837/
