The Kennedy Center is already losing performers after Donald Trump slapped his name on the storied arts institution.
Kristy Lee, a folk singer scheduled to perform at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 14, is in talks to cancel her appearance, her spokesperson told NOTUS, as other artists also move to sever ties with the venue.
One performer, who spoke to NOTUS on the condition of anonymity, said Trump’s renaming had left a permanent “stain” on the center.
Another lamented what the Kennedy Center once represented—for artists and for the country at large. “I feel really badly for performers, not just for performers but for the people who work there,” they said.
“Kennedy Center is supposed to be a memorial, focusing on being nonpartisan. A place where people, it doesn’t matter what party they believe in, should be performing and experiencing the arts together regardless of what their party is. And it has not become that.”
Other artists who reluctantly chose to keep their scheduled performances at the center told NOTUS they are doing so as an act of resistance to the 79-year-old president.
“Reality show personality and con artist aren’t the type of artist the center showcases,” one artist said. They added that they “don’t associate the arts, or this building, with Trump.”
“And I guess the real debate up till now is what you boycott it and help ensure it goes down the tubes,” the musician added. “Or do you do the concerts and keep the audiences that love going to the Kennedy Center. And make sure there’s something there after this guy leaves. And it could be restored from however he trashes it.”
The backlash follows an announcement Thursday from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts would be tackily renamed to include Trump’s name after a vote by the venue’s board, which is now stacked with MAGA loyalists.
“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future!” she wrote on X. “The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur.”
The board includes White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles; Attorney General Pam Bondi; second lady Usha Vance; Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino; and Allison Lutnick, the wife of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
A source told CNN that Trump phoned into Thursday’s meeting ahead of the vote.
A day later, the president’s name was quickly and tackily plastered onto the center’s building, which now reads: “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
Democrats and historians, however, have insisted that renaming the venue requires an act of Congress.
“The Kennedy Center was named by law. To change the name would require a revision of that 1964 law,” Ray Smock, a former House historian, wrote in an email to the Associated Press. “The Kennedy Center board is not a lawmaking entity. Congress makes laws.”
Meanwhile, many of Kennedy’s relatives have expressed their outrage.
“Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder,” Kerry Kennedy, 66, wrote on X Friday.
The lawyer and former president’s niece added: “Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!”
Trump set his sights on the center months ago and has repeatedly suggested it be renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center in public remarks and on social media. At the same time, ticket sales have reportedly plummeted and audiences thinned since Trump’s takeover.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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