Kennedy Center cancels Christmas Eve jazz performance after host pulls out over renaming

The Kennedy Center canceled its annual Christmas Eve concert Wednesday after the program’s host backed out over opposition to the center’s board adding President Donald Trump’s name to the venue. The board made the decision last week to rename the iconic performance arts center as “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” The new name has already gone up on the front of the venue. 
The concert’s host, Chuck Redd, a musician, cited the name change as the reason he would not do the show in a statement to the Associated Press. 
“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 outlet in an email.
The Kennedy Center has not commented on the cancellation, but listed the performance as “canceled” on its website earlier Wednesday. The concert has been a holiday staple at the venue for two decades.
Redd is not the first person to cancel his event over Trump’s involvement. Broadway icon Lin-Manuel Miranda canceled a planned production of his smash Broadway hit, “Hamilton,” at the iconic venue in March because of the president. 
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.

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