A Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center has been canceled after Trump’s name was added to the building

NEW YORK (AP) — A jazz concert scheduled for Christmas Eve at the Kennedy Center, a holiday tradition dating back more than 20 years, has been canceled. The show’s host, musician Chuck Reed, said he canceled the show in the wake of the White House’s announcement last week that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.

As of last Friday, the front of the building reads Donald J. Trump Center and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. According to the White House, the president’s carefully selected Council approved the decision, which scholars said violated the law. Trump had been suggesting for months that he was open to changing the name of the center.

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“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and after hours in the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Reed told The Associated Press in an email on Wednesday. Redd, a drummer and vibraphonist who has toured with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Ray Brown, has been headlining the Kennedy Center’s holiday “Jazz Jams” since 2006, succeeding bassist William “Keter” Betts.

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. The center’s website lists the offer as canceled.

President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him. Kennedy’s niece, Kerry Kennedy, has pledged to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office, and former House historian Ray Smoak is among those who say any changes must be approved by Congress.

The law expressly prohibits the Board of Trustees from turning the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from placing another person’s name on the exterior of the building.

Trump, a Republican, was heavily involved in the center named after a prominent Democrat after ignoring him for most of his first term. He was forced to step down from its leadership, reformed the board while positioning himself for its presidency, and personally hosted this year’s Kennedy Center honors ceremony, breaking a long tradition of presidents being mostly spectators. The changes at the Kennedy Center are part of the president’s larger mission to combat “woke” culture in federal cultural institutions.

Several artists have canceled Kennedy Center shows since Trump returned to office, including Issa Rae and Peter Wolf. Lin-Manuel Miranda has canceled the planned production of “Hamilton.”