Kennedy Center Christmas Eve jazz concert canceled after Trump name added to building

[demmiblue]

NEW YORK (AP) — A planned Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center, a holiday tradition dating back more than 20 years, has been canceled. The show’s host, musician Chuck Redd, says that he called off the performance in the wake of the White House announcing last week that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.

As of last Friday, the building’s facade reads The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. According to the White House, the president’s handpicked board approved the decision, which scholars have said violates the law. Trump had been suggesting for months he was open to changing the center’s name.

“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 in an email Wednesday. Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player who has toured with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Ray Brown, has been presiding over holiday “Jazz Jams” at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William “Keter” Betts.

https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-center-jazz-jam-canceled-e556b53085a483140436cfaa8b6f177f

[Cha]

1. TY & Chuck Redd!

Last edited Wed Dec 24, 2025, 09:20 PM - Edit history (1)

WTG Patriots! 💙

[Bluetus]

2. A group I perform with is planning to play there in a few months

This is not a high level thing. There is a cottage industry of organizing trips for groups of any sort to perform inside Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center or other famous buildings. It is basically a specialized travel agency business that uses dates when those centers would normally be empty.

When this group started talking about this trip, I put my name on the "likely" list. But once Trump fired the professional management and installed his lackeys, I moved to the "no way" list. And after his name desecrated the place, I am now on the "Hell no, WTF are you people thinking?" list.

I guess this group is still planning to appear, but the last I heard, they were recruiting home school kids and their parents to fill the many vacancies.

I bet this story is repeated over and over in the next 12 months.

[dweller]

3. Maybe they can call kid rock

to come in and scat about a bit … oh wait , thats a job for ted nugent instead

🫤




✌🏻

[groundloop]

10. Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, and Lee Greenwood..... what a show!!!!!!!

[GoodRaisin]

18. Lara Trump to sing.

[Botany]

4. Merry Christmas

Good News!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Kid Rock will be playing at this venue every night of the year

Finding people who will perform at this venue will be hard

[1WorldHope]

6. Well, that news made my day! Great big gracias to you Demmiblue!

[Upthevibe]

7. Kick. N/T

[sakabatou]

8. Hell, if you DO want to listen to jazz, there's some good streams on Youtube

[IronLionZion]

9. They fired the jazz director earlier this year after decades of excellent performances

I've enjoyed many great jazz concerts at the Kennedy Center over the years. But jazz is a bit too "DEI" for MAGA apparently.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Everything Trump touches dies

[Mysterian]

12. It's difficult to believe even a loathesome cretin such as Trump

would not have the self-awareness to understand how morally low it was to add his name to an institution named in memoriam for an assassinated president.

[SupportSanity]

20. morals? Self-awareness? Really?!

[chicoescuela]

23. Seriously? This is just the beginning for this orange piece of shit.

Come Fourth of July, Trump’s Mt. Rushmore and the Trump/Washington monument. All entrance fees dedicated to the preservation of Mar a lago or his pocket.

[usonian]

13. Pictures you saw were before the job was finished.

[Martin68]

14. Excellent! No artist should agree to perform at the Trump Center.

[Buddyzbuddy]

15. Thank all of you for your sacrifice.

Last edited Thu Dec 25, 2025, 12:58 AM - Edit history (1)

[LudwigPastorius]

16. Thank you, Mr. Redd.

Acquiescing to a fascist authoritarian is tantamount to abetting him.

[oasis]

17. Stand up against Trump tyranny any way you can.

[Paladin]

19. Big holiday gratitude to Chuck Redd and all concerned.

Talk about doing the right thing! Kid Rock sounds like a proper substitute.

[gfarber]

21. Kennedy Center Cancellations

A jazz jam each Christmas Eve night
At the Center that gleams by moonlight,
A tradition long played
Was abruptly waylaid—
When a new name appeared in plain sight.

The host was a drummer named Redd,
With a vibe that made swing styles spread,
But he paused all the cheer
When the signage drew near
With a president’s name overhead.

The façade, by last Friday’s decree,
Read Trump’s name with JFK,
A decision approved
By a board that was moved—
Though some scholars cried, “Not okay!”

For months there were hints and suggestions
Of renaming amid mild digressions,
Till the website went live
And the letters did arrive—
Prompting swift musical recessions.

“When I saw it,” said Redd in a note,
“My decision was clear as I wrote:
Hours later it stood
On the building in wood—
So I canceled the show I would host.”

Since two-thousand-and-six he’d held court,
With jazz legends in rhythm and sport,
From Gillespie’s bright blaze
To Ray Brown’s swinging days—
Now the silence itself made a report.

[TygrBright]

22. the day the music died... n/t