Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell lambasted a performer’s decision to cancel an annual Christmas Eve jazz concert, following the addition of President Donald Trump’s name to the Washington, DC, arts venue.
In a letter, which the Kennedy Center shared a copy of with CNN, Grenell sharply criticizes jazz artist Chuck Redd’s actions and praises Trump for his leadership as the center’s chairman — a role the president’s handpicked board elected him to early in his second term after he ousted his predecessor.
“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, a longtime Trump confidant, wrote to Redd on letterhead bearing the new “Trump Kennedy Center” logo.
The Associated Press first reported on the letter.
Redd told CNN on Wednesday that he canceled the holiday jazz concert, which he has hosted for nearly two decades, after seeing the board’s move to rename the building last week.
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