'I chose to cancel': Trump name ends beloved 20-year-old Kennedy Center Christmas tradition
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'I chose to cancel': Trump name ends beloved 20-year-old Kennedy Center Christmas tradition")
Donald Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts Photograph: (Combination created using images from AFP)
A Christmas concert that survived two decades has been scrapped after the Kennedy Center added Donald Trump’s name. Jazz musician Chuck Redd says the rebranding crossed a line. Here's all you need to know.
Donald Trump's name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has led to the cancellation of a two-decade-old Christmas tradition, according to reports. A holiday tradition that has persevered for more than 20 years was cancelled this year. Why? Because of Trump's name. Chuck Redd, the jazz drummer and vibraphonist who has hosted the Christmas concert for nearly a decade, revealed on Friday (Dec 25) that he cancelled the celebration over the memorial's name change.
Trump rebranding
In a statement to the Associated Press, Redd said, "When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert".
Just days before Christmas, on December 18, this name change was approved by a board of MAGA loyalists appointed by Trump. What was known as The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts since 1964 is now the "Donald Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts".
Redd is not alone in his decision, as Trump's return to the White House has led to numerous artists, including Issa Rae, Peter Wolf, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, calling off their Kennedy Centre performances.
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What's in a name?
The Kennedy Arts Centre was named after President John F. Kennedy's assassination in November 1963. The naming of the memorial was undertaken through an Act of Congress signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. It is worth noting that the law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from adding any additional memorials to the site. However, the Kennedy Centre's president, Richard Grenell, a Trump appointee, has argued that the renaming does not affect the status as a memorial.
