Xmas Eve blues: Kennedy Center jazz show canceled over Trump renaming
The musician who leads the annual event canceled it because of the move to put President Donald Trump’s name on the center without approval from Congress.
Davis WinkieAn annual Christmas Eve jazz concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington was canceled because the center’s Donald Trump-appointed board added the president's name to the building last week.
Chuck Redd, the musician who has led the show since 2006, told CNN that he called off the show “when I saw the name change happening last Friday."
The center’s board, which Trump filled with allies who then elected him chair earlier this year, voted to rename the national music, arts, and culture institution after both Trump and Kennedy on Dec. 18.
Democratic lawmakers who hold ex officio board seats due to their roles in Congress argued that the vote, which the administration claimed was unanimous, was conducted improperly. An ex officio board member, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, filed a lawsuit Dec. 22 claiming that the name change is illegal.
Under federal law, the center’s name remains the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. The legislation that established the center did not give its board the ability to change its name.
Contributing: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, Reuters