Two more musicians canceled performances at the Kennedy Center after its board voted to rename the venue to include US President Donald Trump's name.
The Cookers, a veteran jazz band, said it has canceled two New Year's concerts. In its statement, the group did not mention Trump or the Kennedy Center but said the decision “was made very quickly.”
Another group, Doug Varone and Dancers, said it would not perform two concerts scheduled for April because of the name change, adding: “We can no longer afford or ask our audience to enter this once great institution.”
Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, called the cancellation “a form of derangement syndrome.”
He said the artists who canceled were “booked by the previous far-left leadership.”
“Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned with inviting far-left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone, regardless of their political beliefs,” he added.
Announcing their decision to cancel the concert, Kukers said: “Jazz was born out of struggle and the tireless demand for freedom: freedom of thought, expression and the full human voice.”
“We are not turning our backs on our audience and want to make sure that when we return to the bandstand, the room can celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it,” they added.
Billy Hart, the band's drummer, told the New York Times that the name change “obviously” played a role in the cancellation decision.
Christy Lee, a folk singer, also recently announced she was canceling her January show.
“When American history begins to be treated as something that can be banned, erased, renamed or renamed for the benefit of someone's ego, I cannot stand on that stage and sleep at night,” Lee said in a social media post.
Last week, musician Chuck Redd canceled his Christmas Eve performance, which he has held annually since 2006, citing a change in the center's name.
Grenell demanded $1 million (£740,000) in damages from Redd and said the cancellation was a “political stunt” that “cost us significantly.”
The Kennedy Center board, which Trump has filled with allies, voted earlier this month to rename the facility the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. The next day, new signs were added to the front of the building.
Some U.S. lawmakers and legal scholars have argued that since the center's name was given in a 1964 law, Congress should vote to formally change the name.
Some members of President John F. Kennedy's family condemned the move. The center was named in memory of Kennedy shortly after his assassination.
Joe Kennedy III, a former member of the House of Representatives and the late president's great-nephew, said the site “is a living monument to the fallen president and is named in honor of President Kennedy by federal law.”
“It can’t be renamed, not before someone can rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says,” he added.
