The Kennedy Center Name Change Is Turning Into an Artist Exodus

## The Walkout Nobody Asked For

Let’s get one thing straight. Artists canceling Kennedy Center performances because Trump’s name got added to the building isn’t brave. It’s predictable theater masquerading as principle.

The Cookers, a jazz ensemble, backed out of their Wednesday show with a statement dripping in poetic ambiguity about “freedom of thought” and “relentless insistence on freedom.” Kristy Lee, a folk singer from Alabama, pulled her January 14 concert, saying she couldn’t “stand on that stage and sleep right at night.” She’s worried about American history getting erased or rebranded for someone’s ego, which is rich considering she’s the one walking away from a venue that’s stood as a cultural landmark for decades.

Here’s what actually happened. The Kennedy Center’s board voted to rename the institution to include President Trump’s name. The next day, his name went up on the facade. Democrats lost their minds. Rep. Joyce Beatty filed a lawsuit. Members of the Kennedy family complained. And now musicians are treating their concert cancellations like acts of civil disobedience.

## The Integrity Card Gets Played Again

Kristy Lee says losing her integrity would cost more than any paycheck. That’s a nice line. It sounds noble until you think about what she’s actually saying. She believes a publicly funded space adding Trump’s name somehow corrupts the entire institution. That performing there would taint her as an artist.

You know what? This isn’t about institutional integrity. It’s about political comfort.

Jazz drummer Billy Hart told The New York Times the name change “evidently” played a role in their cancellation. At least he’s being somewhat honest about it. The Cookers didn’t cite a specific reason publicly, but their flowery statement about jazz being “born from struggle” makes the subtext pretty clear. They’re uncomfortable. They don’t like Trump. So they’re out.

Chuck Redd was one of the first to cancel. He’d been doing a Christmas Eve concert at the Kennedy Center for nearly twenty years. Twenty years of tradition, gone because of a name on a building. The Kennedy Center’s president, Richard Grenell, wasn’t having it. He sent Redd a letter threatening to sue him for a million dollars, calling the cancellation a “political stunt.”

Was that heavy handed? Maybe. But Grenell’s not wrong about the stunt part.

## When Art Becomes Hostage to Politics

Here’s where this gets interesting. These artists are essentially saying they can only perform in spaces that align with their political sensibilities. Think about that for a second. The Kennedy Center hasn’t changed its mission. The staff didn’t suddenly become different people. The acoustics are the same. The audiences still want to hear music.

But the name on the building? That’s apparently a bridge too far.

This is the opposite of what art should be. Real art challenges. It exists in uncomfortable spaces. It speaks to people who disagree with you. Jazz, which The Cookers claim was “born from struggle,” thrived in dive bars and segregated clubs and places where the establishment didn’t want it. Now these musicians won’t play a premiere venue because they don’t like whose name is on it?

Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi said it plainly on Saturday. Artists canceling over political differences aren’t courageous or principled. They’re “selfish, intolerant,” and they’ve failed to meet the moment.

That might sound harsh, but it’s accurate. These cancellations hurt the staff who work there. They disappoint audiences who bought tickets. They abandon the very people who might need to hear their music most. And for what? To make a statement that’ll be forgotten in a week?

## The Bigger Picture Nobody Wants to Address

There’s something else happening here that’s worth noting. The lawsuit from Rep. Beatty claims the name change is a “flagrant violation of the rule of law” because Congress created the Kennedy Center to memorialize JFK and can’t rename it without congressional approval.

That’s a legitimate legal question. Let the courts sort it out. But musicians preemptively boycotting the venue before any legal determination has been made? That’s not principle. That’s partisanship dressed up in artist clothes.

Lee said she’d play a live show from her home instead of the Kennedy Center. Good for her, I guess. She’ll perform for people who already agree with her in the safety of a livestream where nobody can challenge her thinking. That’s not courage. That’s comfort seeking.

The irony is thick enough to cut. These artists claim they’re defending the Kennedy Center’s “founding purpose” by refusing to perform there. They say they’re protecting it from “political capture” by making their art explicitly political. They insist they’re standing up for freedom by limiting where they’ll share their talents.

It doesn’t add up. It never does when people confuse their personal discomfort with moral clarity.

The Kennedy Center will survive this. Other artists will fill those slots. Audiences will still come. And these musicians who walked away will convince themselves they did something meaningful when really they just proved how narrow their definition of artistic freedom has become.