President Donald Trump’s effort to stamp his name on the Kennedy Center is already backfiring, as artists quietly bolt rather than perform at what critics deride as his latest monument to himself. The New York Times reports that Doug Varone and Dancers scrapped a two-night April run — walking away from $40,000 — calling the decision “financially devastating but morally exhilarating” after top administrators quit the center’s board in protest. A prominent jazz ensemble also canceled a New Year’s Eve performance, part of a broader artist exodus sparked by Trump’s push to rebrand the federally chartered Kennedy Center, a move legal experts say potentially violates the law and has turned scheduling into an early nightmare.
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Trump’s self-branded Kennedy Center struggles as artists cancel in protest
