Donald Trump seems to get a kick out of defiling the Kennedy family’s memory. Not content with promoting RFK Jr to wreak death upon the nation, he’s paved over Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden and, more recently, decreed that the Kennedy Center is now the “Trump-Kennedy Center”. One of his first actions on returning to office was to fill the Kennedy Center’s board with flunkies, and said flunkies have now said they’re officially renaming it “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts”. The institute was intended to be a living memorial to John F. Kennedy, a legal designation that means any official name change requires congressional approval and can’t simply be voted on by the board. But I guess the law doesn’t mean much to Trump and his cronies. Now it seems they’re not only happy with defiling its name, they’re also now perverting its mission by coming after artists with outrageous demands. Hot on the heels of the controversial renaming, famed jazz musician Chuck Redd canceled his Christmas Eve “jazz jam” at the center, meaning this was the first year it wasn’t held since 2006. This was an embarrassing moment for the center, and the Head of the Kennedy Center is now demanding… one million dollars in damages. Just a mouthpiece for Trump now Kennedy Center threatens to sue musician who canceled concert after Trump's name added to buildingRichard Grenell, the venue's president, called Chuck Redd's decision to cancel a Christmas Eve concert a “political stunt”https://t.co/eWJTsr5cTo— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) December 29, 2025 In a furious letter to Redd, Grenell dubbed this principled stance “intolerance”: “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.” This was backed up by Kennedy Center vice president of public relations Roma Daravi, who told NBC: “Any artist cancelling their show at the Trump Kennedy Center over political differences isn’t courageous or principled — they are selfish, intolerant, and have failed to meet the basic duty of a public artist: to perform for all people.” I’m not sure the “basic duty” of a public artist is to perform for all people. It seems to me that a basic principle is that you can’t force a musician to perform for anyone they don’t want to. But anyway, it remains unclear how they’re going to enforce this. Redd is yet to respond, though this letter has already done its job and reminded anyone working with the Kennedy Center that they’ll come straight for you if you dare to stand up against them. It remains to be seen how the arts world will respond to being held to ransom by a bunch of Trump acolytes. I suspect many won’t touch an invitation from them with a ten-foot pole. Oh well, maybe there’s still time to book Kid Rock for a permanent residency.