{"id":56665,"date":"2025-12-27T16:54:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T16:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/kennedy-center-criticizes-musician-after-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-over\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T15:23:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T15:23:54","slug":"kennedy-center-criticizes-musician-after-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/kennedy-center-criticizes-musician-after-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Kennedy Center criticizes musician after Christmas Eve jazz show canceled over Trump name addition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The jazz performance, known as the Christmas Eve Jazz Jam, has been a holiday tradition at the iconic cultural institution for nearly two decades. But this year, jazz musician Chuck Redd decided to cancel the event after the Kennedy Center\u2019s board of trustees added President Donald Trump\u2019s name to the building\u2019s official signage and title. <\/p>\n<p>The center\u2019s name was recently changed to the \u201cDonald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,\u201d following a decision by a board whose membership has shifted under new leadership. <\/p>\n<p>The name change sparked intense backlash from artists, lawmakers, and members of the Kennedy family, who argue that the institution was established by Congress as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy should not be renamed without legislative approval. <\/p>\n<p>Redd, who had hosted the Christmas Eve jazz event since 2006, said he chose to cancel upon seeing the name change, calling it a matter of principle. <\/p>\n<p>In response, Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell sharply criticized Redd\u2019s decision. Grenell described the cancellation as a political stunt that harmed the nonprofit arts institution financially and culturally, and he indicated the center may seek $1\u202fmillion in damages from the musician for withdrawing from the event. <\/p>\n<p>Several high\u2011profile performers have distanced themselves from the center following the renaming, and legal challenges have been raised by lawmakers who contend the board lacked authority to alter the institution\u2019s statutory name.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-99782\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/download-17.jpg\" alt=\"The annual Christmas Eve jazz concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. was canceled this year after its longtime host withdrew in protest of the center\u2019s controversial renaming. \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The annual Christmas Eve jazz concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. was canceled this year after its longtime host withdrew in protest of the center\u2019s controversial renaming. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000099781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000099781,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/download-9.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/download-9.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/download-9.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/download-9.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/download-9.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/download-9.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000099781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56665"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56665"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}