Brooklyn musician Wayne Tucker joins other artists in canceling Kennedy Center performance
Brooklyn-based musician Wayne Tucker told Newsday that he and his band — The Bad Mothas — will not perform at the Kennedy Center on Jan. 22 as scheduled after President Donald Trump's name was added to the building. Credit: Getty Images/Heather Diehl
A Brooklyn-based musician has joined the list of artists and performers who have canceled performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the building.
Wayne Tucker told Newsday that he and his band — The Bad Mothas — will not perform at the historic venue on Jan. 22 as scheduled.
"Tbh [To be honest] with you, as a musician, my only goal is to uplift as many human beings as possible," Tucker said via Instagram message on Wednesday. "The controversy of performing there right now may do the opposite of that, it may uplift some but it also may cause more friction and tension, and that is why we are canceling our show."
Tucker and his band were set to play a show titled "Grief and Gratitude," which the Kennedy Center website described as "Miles Davis meets Stevie Wonder." Tucker has toured and recorded with several pop legends, including Taylor Swift, Elvis Costello and David Crosby, as well as jazz greats Kurt Elling, Al Foster, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Cyrille Aimée.
The Kennedy Center has been steeped in controversy since Trump ousted its board and named himself its chairman earlier this year. The producers of "Hamilton" and actor Issa Rae canceled appearances as a result, while musicians Ben Folds and Renee Fleming stepped down from advisory roles.
Trump hand-picked a new board, which last month voted unanimously to change the venue's name to The Donald Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Congress passed a law authorizing the construction of a national cultural center named after President John F. Kennedy a year after his 1963 assassination. Federal law prohibits the board of trustees from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.
Tucker’s decision follows similar announcements by jazz drummer Chuck Redd, who canceled a Christmas Eve jazz show he was scheduled to host. Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York dance group, said in an Instagram post on Monday that it was pulling out of an April performance.
The Cookers, an all-star jazz ensemble, announced they were canceling their New Year’s Eve show at the Kennedy Center. On its website, the band said it was not turning its back on its audience and that when it did return to the stage, “the room is able to celebrate the full presence of the music and everyone in it."
"Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice. Some of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us," the website post said.
The cancellations drew a furious response from Kennedy Center interim president and special envoy Richard Grenell, who threatened to seek $1 million in damages after Redd’s cancellation, calling it a "political stunt."
"The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far-left leadership," Grenell posted on X. "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," Grenell continued. "The arts are for everyone and the left is mad about it."
Other New York City and Long Island artists scheduled for appearances in 2026 have not commented on Trump's name being added to the Kennedy Center. They include composer Stephen Schwartz, the three-time Academy Award winner from Nassau County who penned the musicals "Godspell" and "Wicked." A spokesperson for Schwartz, who is scheduled to host the Washington National Opera Gala on May 16 at the Kennedy Center, did not return requests for comment.
A New York City brass party band, The Shag Horns, is on the Kennedy Center calendar for Jan. 24. The Manhattan-based Martha Graham Dance Company is scheduled for three dates in early April, and the New York City Ballet is slated for early June. None of those organizations returned requests for comment.
With AP
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