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The Kennedy Center has been hit with a string of abrupt cancellations in the wake of its board of trustees’ adding President Donald Trump’s name to the landmark performing arts institution.
Just days before they were set to perform twice on New Year’s Eve, the jazz group the Cookers backed out of the gig.
“With deep regret, we must share that we are unable to perform as planned on New Year’s Eve,” the group said in a statement, explaining that the decision came together very quickly. “We remain committed to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them.”
While the group did not provide details behind the decision, Billy Hart, the Cookers’ drummer, told The New York Times that the center’s name change “evidently” played a role in the cancelation, noting concerns about the potential for retaliation.
New York City-based dance company Doug Varone and Dancers also announced on Monday that they’re canceling their performances set for April, because “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.”
Kristy Lee, a folk singer-songwriter who was slated to perform on January 14, also canceled her show due to the name change. “When American history starts getting treated like something you can ban, erase, rename, or rebrand for somebody else’s ego, I can’t stand on that stage and sleep right at night,” she said last week in a social media post.
CNN has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment. The center’s president, Richard Grenell, dismissed the cancelations as “a form of derangement syndrome” in a post to X on Monday night.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/30/politics/kennedy-center-cancelations-trump-name
Just days before they were set to perform twice on New Year’s Eve, the jazz group the Cookers backed out of the gig.
“With deep regret, we must share that we are unable to perform as planned on New Year’s Eve,” the group said in a statement, explaining that the decision came together very quickly. “We remain committed to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them.”
While the group did not provide details behind the decision, Billy Hart, the Cookers’ drummer, told The New York Times that the center’s name change “evidently” played a role in the cancelation, noting concerns about the potential for retaliation.
New York City-based dance company Doug Varone and Dancers also announced on Monday that they’re canceling their performances set for April, because “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.”
Kristy Lee, a folk singer-songwriter who was slated to perform on January 14, also canceled her show due to the name change. “When American history starts getting treated like something you can ban, erase, rename, or rebrand for somebody else’s ego, I can’t stand on that stage and sleep right at night,” she said last week in a social media post.
CNN has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment. The center’s president, Richard Grenell, dismissed the cancelations as “a form of derangement syndrome” in a post to X on Monday night.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/30/politics/kennedy-center-cancelations-trump-name
