Trump renaming controversy grows as second Kennedy Center event axed

For the second time in a week, a major event at the Kennedy Center has been canceled.

The Cookers announced that their pair of New Year’s Eve concerts will not take place. The announcement follows the center’s renaming as the Trump-Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump’s hand-picked board voted to change the name.

Although the center has already updated its logos on its website and building, the name was established by Congress, and some have argued that it would take an act of Congress to officially change it.

The Cookers did not specifically cite the renaming as their reason for canceling.

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“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 said on its website. “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 we 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 announcement comes a week after Chuck Redd canceled his annual Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center. The center then said it would seek $1 million in lost revenue from Redd because of the cancellation.

The Kennedy Center opened in 1971 as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.

Earlier this year, Trump fired the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees and appointed himself as chair.

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