Another act said it won’t perform at the Trump Kennedy Center, this time on New Year’s Eve, after President Trump’s name was added to the building.
The Cookers, a jazz band, were set to perform two shows at the center on Wednesday, but canceled both.
In a statement on their website, they said they’re “truly sorry to everyone who made plans, traveled, and invested their time and resources to be with us.”
They added, “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice. 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. Our hope is that this moment will leave space for reflection, not resentment.”
The statement didn’t explicitly say that the group canceled the shows because of the center’s name change, but the band’s drummer, Billy Hart, told The New York Times that the new name “evidently” played a role in the decision.
The Cookers join other musicians who have scrapped their acts.
Jazz musician Chuck Redd canceled his Christmas Eve concert and told The Associated Press that he did so after seeing the name change.
Folk musician Kristy Lee, who was scheduled to perform on Jan. 14, rescinded her show last week.
“I won’t lie to you, canceling shows hurts. This is how I keep the lights on. But losing my integrity would cost me more than any paycheck,” she wrote in a statement on Instagram, saying she’ll do a live performance from her home instead.
Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York company, said it won’t perform in April.
The hit musical “Hamilton” was also supposed to have a run at the center March to April 2026, but canceled the shows back in March in response to Mr. Trump’s takeover.
“The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national center represents,” the show’s producer, Jeffrey Seller, wrote on X.
“‘Hamilton’ was proudly performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during the first Trump administration,” he wrote. “We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.”
Richard Grenell, the center’s president, railed against the cancellations.
“The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership,” he wrote on X. “Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political beliefs.
“Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome. The arts are for everyone and the left is mad about it.”
Mr. Trump took control of the center this year while firing the board and appointing new members, who then elected him as the new chairman.
The new board voted unanimously last week to rename the D.C. mecca The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
“The unanimous vote recognizes that the current chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction,” spokeswoman Roma Daravi said in a statement. “The new Trump Kennedy center reflects the unequivocal support for America’s cultural center for generations to come.”
Mr. Trump has said he was honored that his name was added to the building.
“The building was in such bad shape, both physically, financially, and every other way. Now it’s very solid, very strong,” he told reporters.
On Friday, he showed off photos of potential marble armrests that could replace the ones at the center.
“Unlike anything ever done or seen before!” he wrote on Truth Social.
