Imagine we can find some non leftist artists and performers that would be happy to perform, and people other than the black tie leftist would love to attend
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It’s not imaginable in DC. It’s saturated with leftists, both limousine and Subaru.
I’ve seen Chuck Redd perform several times, once with his own band and a few times in other jazz bands. I don’t know what his politics are, but I do know a couple people that play with him occasionally are not liberals. His type of jazz gets played in small venues and I doubt he can afford to lose many fans. So being a DC performer Redd faced two bad choices. Cancel the performance and possibly face consequences or play it and have his mostly leftard DC following boycott him. My guess is that he thought the first was the least likely, but the second would be inevitable.
You described the dilemma precisely.
I dont understand why the Board and Trump didn’t forsee this. Taking overvthe Kennedy Center would have been a win for him. The name part (on a memorial to another President) was too much.
His choice, but pretty gutless