More Acts Cancel Kennedy Center Performances After Trump Name Change

Two more acts have canceled their upcoming performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the wake of Donald Trump adding his name to the historic forum, according to the New York Times.

A veteran jazz septet known as The Cookers canceled two New Year’s Eve performances. They announced the move in a statement on Monday, writing, “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.”

The group’s drummer, Billy Hart, told the Times that Trump’s name change “evidently” influenced The Cookers’ decision to bow out.

New York dance troupe Doug Varone and Dancers also canceled two of its performances slated for April. The shows were to coincide with the company’s 40th anniversary. Varone told the Times that they were losing $40,000 by dropping out. He wrote of the decision in an email, “It is financially devastating but morally exhilarating.”

“The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership,” said the center’s president ambassador, Richard Grenell, in response to the recent cancellations. “Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political beliefs. Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome.”

A rep for the Kennedy Center said the organization will not tolerate discrimination and book talent that appeals to all backgrounds and beliefs.

The Cookers and Doug Varone and Dancers are only the latest acts to pull their performances from the Kennedy Center calendar. Jazz musician Chuck Redd abruptly canceled his Christmas Eve concert in protest of Trump’s name change. Grenell said the organization would seek $1 million in damages.

In a Dec. 26 letter to Redd, Grenell wrote, “Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution.”

Trump’s name was added to the center on Dec. 19 after the White House announced that the Kennedy Center board of trustees unanimously decided to rename the venue “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”