The Cookers, a Grammy-nominated jazz septet, have pulled out of a New Year's Eve performance at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, just two days before the scheduled gig. The decision follows the centre's controversial renaming as the Trump-Kennedy Center earlier this month.
In a statement on their website, the band did not explicitly cite the renaming but said: 'Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.' The Cookers, who are primarily African-American, apologised to their audience, saying they 'understand and share your sadness' and remain 'committed to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them'.
The cancellation is the latest in a string of withdrawals. Drummer Chuck Redd cancelled a Christmas Eve gig, folk singer Kristy Lee pulled out of a concert next month, and dance company Doug Varone and Dancers have withdrawn from two performances in April. Lee said on social media that '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'.
Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center president appointed by Donald Trump, threatened to sue Redd for $1m in damages, calling his withdrawal a 'political stunt'. In a letter obtained by the Washington Post, Grenell wrote: '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 responded to the cancellations on social media, saying: 'The arts are for everyone and the left is mad about it.' He accused the acts of being booked by 'the previous far left leadership' and claimed that 'boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome'.
Former Cookers saxophonist Billy Harper went further, telling a Facebook group that he 'would never even consider performing in a venue bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture'. He evoked the legacy of jazz musicians who fought racism, saying they 'would be turning in their graves to see me stand on a stage under such circumstances'.
