Artists continue to cancel shows after Trump’s name added to Kennedy Center

Drama at the Kennedy Center continues with a string of artists cancelling their live performances after the Kennedy Center's board of trustees added President Donald Trump's name to the landmark arts institution. I was honored by it. You know, we've, we're saving the building. We saved the building. Just days before they were set to perform twice on New Year's Eve, the jazz band, The Cookers, decided to back out of the gig. And while the group did not provide details for backing out of the gig, the group's drummer Billy Hart told the New York

Times that the name change did play a role, citing potential retaliation. New York City-based dance company Doug Verone and dancers also said that they are canceling their performances set for April. They said, quote, With the latest act of Donald J. Trump renaming the center after himself, we can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution. Christy Lee, a folk singer-songwriter,

also canceled her performance set for January, also noting the name change. She said, quote, "'When America in history starts getting treated "'like something you can ban, erase, name, "'or rebrand for somebody else's ego,

"'I can't stand on that stage and sleep right at night.

I wanted to be clear that I was listening to my conscience.

The Kennedy Center's president, Richard Grinnell, someone who I should note was installed by the president himself, called the different cancellations called the different cancellations a form of derangement syndrome.