All posts tagged: TrumpKennedy

Wicked composer says he’d never ‘set foot’ in Trump-Kennedy Center as he cancels performance over rebrand

Wicked composer says he’d never ‘set foot’ in Trump-Kennedy Center as he cancels performance over rebrand

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz has pulled out of a scheduled performance at the Kennedy Center over President Donald Trump’s renaming of the historic venue. Three-time Oscar winner Schwartz, 77, has joined a growing list of artists to boycott the cultural center over Trump’s potentially illegal attempt to rebrand the institution as the Trump-Kennedy Center. Schwartz, who was scheduled to host the Washington National Opera Gala at the Kennedy Center on May 16, told Newsday there was “no way” he would enter the venue now. “It no longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be,” Schwartz said in an email sent by his assistant. “There’s no way I would set foot in it now.” Schwartz’s other stage works include Godspell, Pippin and Children of Eden. He has also contributed songs to major animated films, including Pocahontas and The …

Kennedy Center to be renamed ‘Trump-Kennedy Center,’ White House says

Kennedy Center to be renamed ‘Trump-Kennedy Center,’ White House says

Published by Sam Flores

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, will be renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. The prestigious Washington cultural center’s board of trustees, who were appointed by President Donald Trump in February, “have just voted unanimously” on the name change, Leavitt said in an X post. They did so “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,” Leavitt said. “Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur,” she said. The move may face challenges, however: U.S. code states that no new “memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” To change that would require Congress, NBC News reported in July. House Republicans have already …