Continuing to face backlash over the addition of President Trump’s name, the Kennedy Center now faces artist and show cancellations as well as a dip in box office ticket sales.
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As previously reported, the performing arts hall has been making headlines over its board’s decision to add President Trump’s name. It has now been renamed The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
According to The Hill, half a dozen artists and shows have canceled their shows at the Kennedy Center as a form of protest. One group, the New York dance company Doug Varone and Dancers, revealed last week that it was canceling two performances in April.
Varone shared that the group will lose approximately $40,000 for canceling the shows. Despite this, Varone stated that the group could “no longer permit” themselves, nor ask their audience, to step inside “this once great institution.”
“It is financially devastating but morally exhilarating,” he stated.
Another music artist, Kristy Lee, announced she would not perform at the Kennedy Center later this month due to the Trump name add.
Although she noted in an Instagram post that “canceling shows hurts” because they “keep the light on,” Lee pointed out, “Losing my integrity would cost me more than any paycheck.”
“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,” Lee wrote. “America didn’t get built by branding. It got built by people showing up and doing the work. And the folks who carry it don’t need their name on it, they just show up.”
Other artists who canceled are The Cookers, Rhiannon Giddens, Issa Rae, and Hamilton.
The Trump Kennedy Center Wants to Sue One Artist For Canceling His Christmas Eve Show
Meanwhile, the president of the Kennedy Center, Richard Grenell, stated he wanted to sue one artist, Chuck Redd, for canceling his Christmas Eve performance after the news of the Trump name addition.
Redd had hosted his Jazz Jams performance at the Kennedy Center since 2006.
“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” he said.
Fox News Digital reported that Grenell accused Redd of financially harming the performing arts center with his decision. He also claimed the decision was a “political stunt.”
“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” Grenell stated in a letter to Redd.
Kennedy Center vice president of public relations Roma Daravi also spoke out about the situation. “Any artist canceling their show at the Trump Kennedy Center over political differences isn’t courageous or principled,” she told Fox News Digital. “They are selfish, intolerant, and have failed to meet the basic duty of a public artist: to perform for all people.”