--- title: Kennedy Center’s Christmas Eve Jazz Show Cancelled After Trump Name Change description: Jazz drummer Chuck Redd has cancelled the jazz show citing Donald Trump's name added to The Kennedy Center canonical: https://time.com/7342638/kennedy-center-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-trump-name-change/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-12-25T17:46:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:43:15.412Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kennedy Center’s Christmas Eve Jazz Show Cancelled After Trump Name Change og:description: Jazz drummer Chuck Redd has cancelled the jazz show citing Donald Trump's name added to The Kennedy Center og:url: https://time.com/7342638/kennedy-center-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-trump-name-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c3081e776fb775a/6998cc8d25f3eef55a645466/GettyImages-2252069378.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Kennedy Center Board Moves To Add Trump's Name To Venue og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kennedy Center’s Christmas Eve Jazz Show Cancelled After Trump Name Change twitter:description: Jazz drummer Chuck Redd has cancelled the jazz show citing Donald Trump's name added to The Kennedy Center twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c3081e776fb775a/6998cc8d25f3eef55a645466/GettyImages-2252069378.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kennedy Center’s Christmas Eve Jazz Show Cancelled After Trump Name Change > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Dec 25, 2025 5:46 PM UTC  Workers affix signage adding US President Donald Trump's name on the facade of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. Workers affix signage adding US President Donald Trump's name on the facade of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. Bloomberg Finance LP  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Dec 25, 2025 5:46 PM UTC The [Kennedy Center](https://time.com/7221538/donald-trump-kennedy-center/) cancelled their annual [Christmas Eve](https://time.com/7342152/white-house-christmas-photos-history/) jazz concert on Wednesday after the usual host decided to protest President Donald Trump’s recent changes to the art center’s name. Jazz drummer and vibraphone player Chuck Redd, who has hosted the concert for close to two decades, said that he made the decision after Trump announced he would add his name to the center dedicated to the legacy of assassinated President John F. Kennedy. As of last Friday, the building’s facade reads The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, a decision made by Trump’s hand-picked board, which he himself now chairs. **Read More:**[ _The Kennedy Center Honors Is Now Just Another Trump Show_](https://time.com/7309301/trump-kennedy-center-honors-kiss-sylvester-stallone-george-strait/) “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 said in an email to The Associated Press on Christmas Eve. “Join in our annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam for an evening of music that’ll fill you with holiday cheer,” the listing for the usual event said on the center’s website, though by Christmas eve the listing said “Cancelled” beside it. The cancellation follows a handful of other events that have seen the same fate since Trump’s self-appointment as chairman earlier this year. 15 events have been cancelled by the acts themselves, including by actress Issa Rae and award-winning composer Lin Manuel Miranda. The Kennedy Center was designated as a “living memorial” to Kennedy by Congress in 1964, after his assassination in November 1963\. The name change and Trump’s general overhaul of the arts center has been criticized by lawmakers and experts who argue that his name change goes against Congressional law, which [explicitly](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/76j) prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else. Democratic Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty sued Trump for the move earlier this week, calling the name change a “flagrant violation” of law and “a complete disgrace” to the Kennedy Center as an institution. “Only Congress has the authority to rename the Kennedy Center,” said Congresswoman Beatty in a [statement](https://washingtonlitigationgroup.org/news/new-lawsuit-challenges-illegal-renaming-of-the-kennedy-center/) regarding the suit. “President Trump and his cronies must not be allowed to trample federal law and bypass Congress to feed his ego.” Trump, for his part, has said he was "surprised" and "honored" by the board’s decision to approve the name change, though he composed the members earlier this year, and his close advisor Richard Grenell became board President. The family of Kennedy, a famed Democrat, have also come out against the move, including the former President’s grandnephew, Joe Kennedy III. “\[The Kennedy Center\] can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says,” he [said on X ](https://x.com/joekennedy/status/2001735896228302982?s=20)in response to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announcing the name decision. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7342638/kennedy-center-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-trump-name-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7342638/kennedy-center-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-trump-name-change/"},"headline":"Kennedy Center’s Christmas Eve Jazz Show Cancelled After Trump Name Change","datePublished":"2025-12-25T17:46:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:43:15.412Z","description":"Jazz drummer Chuck Redd has cancelled the jazz show citing Donald Trump's name added to The Kennedy Center","url":"https://time.com/7342638/kennedy-center-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-trump-name-change/","keywords":["Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c3081e776fb775a/6998cc8d25f3eef55a645466/GettyImages-2252069378.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rebecca Schneid","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c3081e776fb775a/6998cc8d25f3eef55a645466/GettyImages-2252069378.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kennedy Center Board Moves To Add Trump's Name To Venue","caption":"Kennedy Center Board Moves To Add Trump's Name To Venue","creditText":"Bloomberg Finance LP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7342638/kennedy-center-christmas-eve-jazz-show-canceled-trump-name-change/","name":"Kennedy Center’s Christmas Eve Jazz Show Cancelled After Trump Name Change"}}]}] ```