The Kennedy Center Annual Christmas Eve Concert Canceled Over Trump Name Change

Mediaite reported that The Kennedy Center's annual Christmas Eve jazz concert was canceled due to the venue being renamed after Trump. 

Chuck Redd, the musician who has hosted the Jazz Jams concert at The Kennedy Center since 2006, said, "When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” 

BroadwayWorld previously reported that the board overseeing Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted last week to rename the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center.

Trump, who serves as chairman of the board and has frequently referred to the institution as the “Trump Kennedy Center,” previously said the decision to rename the venue would rest with the board. He made those remarks earlier this month while attending the Kennedy Center Honors.

BroadwayWorld previously reported that ticket sales at the Kennedy Center declined significantly following a leadership transition earlier this year. According to ticketing and spending data cited by The Washington Post, attendance for major productions between early September and mid-October fell to its lowest level since the pandemic. During that six-week period, approximately 43 percent of seats in the Opera House, Concert Hall, and Eisenhower Theater went unsold, meaning only about 57 percent of available tickets were sold or distributed as complimentary. In comparison, those venues saw 93 percent of seats filled or comped in fall 2024, 80 percent in 2023, and 94 percent in 2022.