Jazz group cancels performance at Kennedy Center amid name dispute

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A new round of artists has withdrawn from scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center after the facility added President Donald Trump’s name, continuing a wave of cancellations that has left the venue’s late-2025 and upcoming calendar in flux.

The Cookers, a jazz supergroup that has performed together for nearly two decades, announced they were pulling out of “A Jazz New Year’s Eve.” In a post on their website, the group said the “decision has come together very quickly,” while also saying they recognized frustration for people who may have planned to attend.

Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York-based dance group, said in an Instagram post late Monday that it would withdraw from a performance scheduled for April. The group said it “can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution.”

The latest withdrawals followed the cancellation of a Christmas Eve performance announced by musician Chuck Redd last week. The cancellations come as the venue faces declining ticket sales and as viewership for the Dec. 23 Kennedy Center Honors broadcast—Trump had predicted would soar—was down by about 35% compared with the 2024 show, according to the report.

The decision to add Trump’s name has also triggered direct disputes over whether artists are acting for political reasons. Richard Grenell, a Trump ally whom the president chose to head the Kennedy Center after ousting prior leadership, posted Monday night on X that the artists canceling shows were booked by the previous “far left leadership,” implying the bookings were made under the Biden administration.

In a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press, Grenell said the “last minute cancellations prove that they were always unwilling to perform for everyone — even those they disagree with politically.” He added that the Kennedy Center had been “flooded with inquiries from real artists willing to perform for everyone and who reject political statements in their artistry.”

Not all performers are canceling. Bluegrass banjoist Randy Barrett, scheduled to perform next month, told the AP he was “deeply troubled by the politicization” of the venue. Barrett said he respected the artists who canceled but argued that “our tribalized country needs more music and art, not less,” describing it as one of the few things that can bring people together.

Other artists pointed to the building’s name and governance as their reason for stepping away. On Saturday, saxophone player Billy Harper said in comments posted on the Jazz Stage Facebook page that he “would never even consider performing in a venue bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture,” adding, “The same music I devoted my life to creating and advancing.” Harper said both the board and the name displayed on the building represent a mentality and practices he “always stood against,” and he said he still does.

At the same time, the Cookers said they did not mention the building’s renaming or the Trump administration in their withdrawal announcement. The group said that when it returns to performing, it wants to ensure the “room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it,” and it reiterated a commitment to “playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them.”

The dispute has unfolded against a broader backdrop of changes at the Kennedy Center, including earlier artist pushback after Trump ousted the institution’s board and named himself chairman. In that earlier round, performer Issa Rae and “Hamilton” producers canceled scheduled engagements, while musicians Ben Folds and Renee Fleming stepped down from advisory roles.

The Kennedy Center has not said whether it plans legal action against the artists canceling performances. After Redd’s cancellation, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages for what he called a “political stunt.”

The Kennedy Center has long been tied to President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial. Scholars cited in the report have said changes to the building’s name would need congressional approval, and the law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center a memorial to anyone else and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.