Kennedy Center cancels Christmas Eve jazz concert after Trump name added
WASHINGTON, DC: The popular Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, has been canceled this year.
The host, musician Chuck Redd, decided to call off the event after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the historic performance venue.
This decision has put an end to a holiday tradition that lasted for more than 20 years.
Jazz host cites name change as reason for cancellation
Veteran jazz musician Chuck Redd had hosted the annual concert since 2006.
For 20 years there has been a Christmas Eve Jazz Concert at the Kennedy Center. This year it was cancelled. After seeing Trump's named added to the building, the organizer, drummer Chuck Redd, cancelled the event. pic.twitter.com/a6cApXAj33
— Save America from the GOP (@rojawi) December 25, 2025
He decided to cancel the performance after the Kennedy Center's facade was changed to read “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
The White House stated that the president’s selected board approved the naming change.
The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.
“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 Associated Press in an email Wednesday.
The show, known as the holiday ‘Jazz Jams,’ was to take place on December 24 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The Kennedy Center holds heavy significance
President Kennedy was shot dead in 1963. Congress passed a law the next year that named the center as a living memorial to him.
Kennedy's niece, Kerry Kennedy, has promised to remove Trump's name from the building once he leaves office. Former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any changes would need Congress's approval.
Trump, a Republican, has become very involved with the center named for a famous Democrat after largely ignoring it during his first term.
He has removed its leadership, restructured the board while arranging to lead it himself, and personally hosted this year's Kennedy Center honors, breaking a long-standing tradition of presidents mostly being spectators.
President @realDonaldTrump SAVED the Trump Kennedy Center @kencen & Ambassador @RichardGrenell has it thriving! (Hi @SecRubio!) 🇺🇸🤍 pic.twitter.com/DoAliPIzQ2
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) December 24, 2025
The changes at the Kennedy Center are part of the president's broader mission to combat ‘woke’ culture in federal cultural institutions.
The name change is part of broader changes since President Trump’s return to office. This shift has caused several artists to pull out of performances at the Kennedy Center this year.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, for example, canceled a planned production of ‘Hamilton.’ Others also expressed discomfort with the recent changes at the venue.
The Kennedy Center has not publicly responded to requests for comment about the cancellation. Its official event calendar now lists the Christmas Eve concert as canceled.
