Kennedy Center NYE party canceled after artists pull out, Trump stooge in charge blames ‘derangement syndrome’

The Kennedy Center – now the controversially rechristened “Trump Kennedy Center” – is in trouble. What’s supposed to be a beacon for artistic freedom has been brutally disfigured into a MAGA monument to all things Trump: the board hollowed out and replaced by flunkies, artistic freedom curtailed, and his stupid name scrawled across the sign.

So it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that musicians are reacting to all this as if the building were now highly radioactive. Last week, jazz musician Chuck Redd pulled out of the center’s Christmas Eve concert, resulting in a furious demand for $1 million in compensation from him.

Now it appears that the Center’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are canceled. The Cookers jazz ensemble was booked to provide the music to ring in 2026, with the Center promising that attendees will be treated to an “all-star jazz septet that will ignite the Terrace Theater stage with fire and soul.”

Well, they won’t, as the Cookers have canceled and the party is off. In a statement on their website, they confirm their “last-minute” decision to pull out, saying:

We are truly sorry to everyone who made plans, traveled, and invested their time and resources to be with us. This decision has come together very quickly, and we understand how frustrating last‑minute changes can be.

While not explicitly saying that they cannot play at the Kennedy Center for political and ethical reasons, it’s not too hard to read between the lines:

“Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice. Some of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us. We are not turning away from our audience, and do want to make sure that when we do return to the bandstand, the room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it.”

Who would want to play there now?

The Trump board is currently gnashing its teeth and wailing, presumably having been unable to find a MAGA-friendly group of expert jazz musicians two days before New Year’s Eve. Their feelings on artists’ refusing to play at this Trump vanity project are also pretty clear, with the Trump-appointed president Richard Grenell billing this as a “form of derangement syndrome” or a “political stunt”.

It’s unclear whether the Kennedy Center will also seek damages from the Cookers, though if they want to pursue a legal claim against Chuck Redd, they’ll need to be consistent in their approaches to artists canceling on them.

So, we’re in a situation in Trump’s America in which an institute founded on the principles of celebrating art is engaged in open financial warfare against… artists. Yeah, that scans.