62 h. ago Yet another musician cancels their Kennedy Center performance after Trump’s attempt at name change

The Mexican American artist was scheduled to give two concerts for young people on February 7

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66 h. ago Sonia De Los Santos cancels Kennedy Center shows, citing unwelcoming climate

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Sonia De Los Santos has canceled her upcoming performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington

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4 d. ago ‘We want performers who aren’t political’: Trump’s Kennedy Center boss takes aim at another musician over canceled concert

Grammy-winning banjo player Béla Fleck said that performing at the Kennedy Center has become ‘charged and political’

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1 week ago ‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center

Sheldon Whitehouse, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, remains undeterred and determined to press on with his investigation“That’s the tactic they use,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island senator, pondering whether Donald Trump might attach his name to the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “You float stuff and you float stuff and you float stuff until people get inured to what a stupid or outrageous thing it is that has been floated and then you pull the trigger.”Whitehouse was sitting in his Senate office and speaking to the Guardian at 11am on Thursday 18 December. Two hours later, his words proved prophetic. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, announced on X that the Kennedy Center board had “voted unanimously” to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center. Continue reading...

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1 week ago More musicians drop out of Kennedy Center shows after Trump name change

The Cookers on Monday pulled out of a New Year’s Eve jazz gig at the controversially renamed ‘Trump-Kennedy’ centerA second jazz band has pulled out of performing at the controversially renamed “Trump-Kennedy” center in Washington DC, giving just two days notice before their New Year’s Eve gig was set to take place.The Cookers, described as a Grammy-nominated, all-star septet of legendary post-bop jazz musicians, have not given an explicit reason for their decision but in a statement posted on their website said: “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.” Continue reading...

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1 week ago More musicians cancel Kennedy Center concerts following addition of Trump's name to building

More artists have canceled performances at the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump's name was added to the facility

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1 week ago More events planned for the Kennedy Center are canceled in protest of Trump adding his name to the building

The president’s de facto takeover of the center earlier this year has prompted continued criticism from artists

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2 w. ago Kennedy Center demands $1M from jazz musician who pulled out of annual Christmas Eve concert in protest at Trump renaming

Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell said on social media that he would ‘not let’ artists cancel shows at the venue ‘without consequence’

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2 w. ago Kennedy Center demands $1M from jazz musician who pulled out of annual New Year’s concert in protest at Trump renaming

Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell said on social media that he would ‘not let’ artists cancel shows at the venue ‘without consequence’

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2 w. ago Kennedy Center president demands $1m from musician who canceled Christmas Eve show

Drummer Chuck Redd decided to cancel his yearly Jazz Jam after Donald Trump added his name to the venueThe president of the Kennedy Center has demanded $1m in damages and fiercely criticized a musician’s sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment – explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure – is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” the venue’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with the Associated Press. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Kennedy Center criticizes musician who canceled performance after Trump name added to building

The president of the Kennedy Center is criticizing musician Chuck Redd for canceling a Christmas Eve performance

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2 w. ago Christmas Eve tradition canceled at Kennedy Center in protest of Trump’s name on building

Kennedy’s niece, Kerry Kennedy, has pledged to remove Trump’s name once he leaves office

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