The Cookers, a veteran jazz ensemble, have canceled both of their New Year’s Eve performances at the Kennedy Center, adding to a growing list of artists walking away from the institution after its board voted to add President Donald Trump’s name to the venue.
The group was scheduled to perform two shows on December 31 as part of “A Jazz New Year’s Eve.” In a statement posted to their website, the band wrote: “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.”
Drummer Billy Hart told The New York Times that the name change “evidently” played a role in the decision. Saxophonist Billy Harper, who performed with jazz legends Art Blakey and Max Roach, was more direct. In comments posted to the Jazz Stage Facebook page, he wrote that he would “never even consider performing in a venue bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture.”
Harper added: “After all the years I spent working with some of the greatest heroes of the anti-racism fight like Max Roach and Randy Weston and Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Stanley Cowell, I know they would be turning in their graves to see me stand on a stage under such circumstances.”
The cancellation follows a pattern that began almost immediately after the board’s vote earlier this month.
Jazz musician Chuck Redd canceled his annual Christmas Eve concert — an event he had hosted since 2006. Folk singer Kristy Lee pulled out of a January 14 performance, writing on social media: “When American history starts getting treated like something you can ban, erase, rename, or rebrand for somebody else’s ego, I can’t stand on that stage and sleep right at night.” Doug Varone and Dancers announced they would no longer appear in April, a decision the choreographer told The New York Times was “financially devastating but morally exhilarating.” Varone said the decision would cost his company $40,000.
The exodus started earlier this year. After Trump took control of the board in February, Hamilton pulled out of its planned 2026 run. Issa Rae, Renée Fleming, Ben Folds, and Shonda Rhimes stepped away from the institution — some leaving leadership roles, others canceling scheduled appearances. Rhiannon Giddens relocated her concert to another D.C. venue.
Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell has dismissed the cancellations as “a form of derangement syndrome.” In a statement, he said the artists “were booked by the previous far left leadership” and called their decisions proof that “the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone.”
The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership.
Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political…— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) December 30, 2025
Grenell has also threatened to sue Chuck Redd for $1 million, calling his Christmas Eve cancellation a “political stunt.”
Jane Raleigh, who served as the Kennedy Center’s dance director before Grenell dismissed her in August, told The Athletic that subscriptions have dropped by roughly half compared to projections.
The board renamed the institution “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” earlier this month. Trump’s name was added to the building’s exterior the following day. Members of the Kennedy family have condemned the move, with former Congressman Joe Kennedy III calling it an unauthorized change to a federally designated presidential memorial. Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty has sued over the renaming, contending that only Congress has the authority to change the center’s official name.
For now, the cancellations continue — and the Kennedy Center heads into 2026 with fewer artists willing to take its stage.
