One Kennedy Center performer thinks there’s a better way to handle the venue’s renaming drama than boycotting it.
Banjoist and bluegrass specialist Randy Barrett, who is scheduled to play at the historic performing arts center on January 30, told the Associated Press in a story published on Tuesday that he doesn’t think cancelling shows at the Kennedy Center is the most productive response to its controversial renaming.
“Like other artists, I’m deeply troubled by the politicization of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” Barrett said in a statement shared with the Daily Beast. “I respect those that have chosen to cancel. However, I feel our tribalized country needs more music and art, not less.”
“It’s one of the few things that can bring us together,” he added.
Barrett holds a contrarian view to many of the artists who have announced cancellations of their upcoming performances at the venue in the wake of its unofficial renaming orchestrated by President Donald Trump.
On December 18, the Center’s board—full of Trump allies installed by the president himself, who serves as chairman—voted to rename it as “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
The building’s facade was altered the next day to reflect the decision, despite the board lacking the legal authority to make such a call.
Jazz septet The Cookers shared a statement on their website announcing that they would be cancelling their upcoming New Year’s Eve performances at the venue. The statement did not explicitly reference Trump, but said their music “reaches across divisions rather than deepening them.”
“Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice,” the statement read.
“Our hope is that this moment will leave space for reflection, not resentment.”
The ensemble’s saxophonist, Billy Harper, was much clearer in his reasoning. Writing on Facebook, Harper said that “the name displayed on the building itself represents a mentality and practices I always stood against. And still do, today more than ever.”
“I 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,” Harper said on Saturday, responding to a comment on a post from Jazz Stage.
Legendary jazz drummer and vibraphonist Chuck Redd, who has performed at the venue annually on Christmas Eve since 2006, canceled his performance at this year’s event at the last minute.
“I did choose to cancel our Kennedy Center Christmas Eve Jazz Jam when I saw the name change happening last Friday,” Redd, 67, told CNN in a statement.
“I’ve been performing at the Kennedy Center since the beginning of my career and I was saddened to see this name change,” he added.
Richard Grenell, the Trump-appointed president of the venue, said in a letter to Redd that the Kennedy Center would pursue $1 million in damages from the musician for his last-minute no-show, calling Redd’s decision a “political stunt.”
Grenell later addressed the cancellations in a Monday X post, writing: “The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership. Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political beliefs.”
“Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome. The arts are for everyone and the left is mad about it,” he added.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.
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