More musical acts pull out of performances after Trump slaps his name on the building – key US politics stories from 30 December at a glance
The list of musical artists canceling gigs at the Kennedy Center, which Donald Trump has attempted to rename the “Trump-Kennedy Center”, in Washington DC continues to grow.
A second jazz band has pulled out of a New Year’s Eve gig, giving just two days’ notice before the event was set to take place.
This week it was the Cookers, described as a Grammy-nominated, all-star septet of legendary post-bop jazz musicians. The group did not give an explicit reason for their decision but in a statement posted on their website said: “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.”
The band’s decision to pull out of A Jazz New Year’s Eve booking comes after the board of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted earlier this month to rename the institution the Trump-Kennedy Center.
The decision provoked outcry – and legal challenges – and the signage outside the Washington DC arts center was quickly amended with Trump’s name. Soon after, drummer and vibraphonist Chuck Redd cancelled a Christmas Eve gig.
Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center president and a Trump appointee, threatened to sue Redd for $1m in damages for what he called a “political stunt”.
