Acts Continue to Bow Out of Performing at Trump-Kennedy Center

More performers have canceled their shows at the newly renamed 🎭Trump-Kennedy Center.

Earlier this month, the White House announced President 👤Donald Trump’s name would be added to the performing arts institution in Washington, D.C., per Fox News.

The jazz septet, The Cookers, was to perform twice on New Year’s Eve at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. But, the group announced Monday it was canceling its shows.

“Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice,” the Cookers said in a statement. “Some of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us. We are not turning away from our audience, and do want to make sure that when we do return to the bandstand, the room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it.”

The band’s drummer, Billy Hart, told The New York Times Trump’s name being added to the performing arts center “evidently” was a factor in the group’s cancellation.

Also, Doug Varone and Dancers said Monday that the New York dance company would no longer performat the Kennedy Center. Its shows were originally scheduled for April.

Kennedy Center President 👤Richard Grenell