Annual Christmas Eve Concert at Kennedy Center Canceled in Protest of Donald Trump’s Name on the Building

A Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center was called off after President Donald Trump’s name appeared on the venue.

The annual holiday performance, hosted by musician Chuck Redd, was scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 24, at the Washington, D.C., arts complex. But Redd, 67, told The Associated Press he decided to withdraw after he noticed Trump’s name associated with the building.

“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” he said.

The Kennedy Center’s website now identifies the venue as the Trump Kennedy Center. The event listing — promoted as “an evening of music that’ll fill you with holiday cheer” — now shows the concert as canceled, without further explanation.

Trump’s name was added to exterior signage on Dec. 19. Photos taken outside the building showed crews installing the words “The Donald Trump and” above the existing name, which previously read, “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the previous day that the venue’s board had “voted unanimously” to rename the building the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”

The Associated Press reported that Redd has led the Jazz Jams event since 2006, taking over after the death of bassist William “Keter” Betts.

According to Redd’s profile on the Kennedy Center website, he got his breakthrough with the Charlie Byrd Trio at 21 and later performed with the supergroup the Great Guitars. He also served as a resident artist at The Smithsonian Jazz Café in Washington, D.C., from 2004 to 2008. His website says he has appeared on more than 80 recordings, and his most recent album, Groove City, was released in 2019.

Redd isn’t the only public figure pushing back against the name change. Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio, said in a Dec. 18 social media video that Leavitt’s description of the vote did not reflect what she experienced.

“I’m sitting here in my congressional office in Washington, D.C., just ending a call with the Kennedy Center, where I serve as an ex-officio member,” Beatty, 75, said in a video. “I am bringing this to you live today because what you may hear is that there was a unanimous vote to rename the Kennedy Center, the Trump Center.”

“Be clear: I was on that call, and as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted. Each time I tried to speak, I was muted. Participants were not allowed to voice their concerns who were online, yet it was said at the end it was a unanimous vote,” she continued.

Several artists have also distanced themselves from the venue amid the controversy, including Issa Rae and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

This year’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony — taped before the organization’s rebranding — adjusted its CBS presentation on Dec. 23 to acknowledge the new name.

CBS kept the on-screen title “The 48th Annual Kennedy Center Honors,” consistent with how it appeared at the time of filming, but opened the broadcast with a voiceover saying, “And now, the Trump Kennedy Center Honors on CBS.”