NEW YORK (AP) – Award-winning singer-musician Rhiannon Giddens has become the latest artist to appear at the Kennedy Center since President Donald Trump ousted the Center's leadership and elected chairman of the board. of the trustee.
Trump's acquisition of the Center is part of his broad campaign against a “awakening” culture.
“I decided to cancel the show at Kennedy Center on May 11, 2025 and move to the national anthem,” she wrote on social media, referring to another Washington, D.C. venue. “The Kennedy Center Show was booked long before the current administration decided to take over this previous non-political institution.”
Giddens is a music performer with a frank roots known for his collaboration with Carolina Chocolate Drop and “They Call Me Home” in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning Francesco Turlici . In 2022, she helped write the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera “Omar.” She is also a recipient of MacArthur's “genius” grant.
Actor Issa Ray, author Louise Penny and rock band Low Kat Connie have also canceled the scheduled Kennedy Center event. Singer-songwriter Victoria Clark went on the show on February 15th, but on stage she was wearing a T-shirt reading “Anti-Trump AF.”
Supported by government money and private donations, the Kennedy Center attracts millions of visitors each year, offering a 100-foot centre with concert halls, opera houses, theaters, lecture halls, meet-up spaces and a “millennium stage.” It is a high complex. It was a free show site.
Until Trump reached his first term, the president routinely attended honorary ceremonies, even in front of politically opposed artists.
