Wicked composer says he’d never ‘set foot’ in Trump-Kennedy Center as he cancels performance over rebrand

Stephen Schwartz joins growing list of artists to boycott the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center

Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz has pulled out of a scheduled performance at the Kennedy Center over President Donald Trump’s renaming of the historic venue.

Three-time Oscar winner Schwartz, 77, has joined a growing list of artists to boycott the cultural center over Trump’s potentially illegal attempt to rebrand the institution as the Trump-Kennedy Center.

Schwartz, who was scheduled to host the Washington National Opera Gala at the Kennedy Center on May 16, told Newsday there was “no way” he would enter the venue now.

“It no longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be,” Schwartz said in an email sent by his assistant. “There’s no way I would set foot in it now.”

Schwartz’s other stage works include Godspell, Pippin and Children of Eden. He has also contributed songs to major animated films, including Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, earning multiple Grammy and Academy Awards.

‘Wicked’ composer Stephen Schwartz has pulled out of a scheduled appearance at the Kennedy Center over Trump's renaming of the venue (Getty)

New signage shows The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts (AP)

His announcement comes after Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell claimed without evidence that legacy media outlets were encouraging artists to cancel performances at the Kennedy Center over the proposed name change.

“I have just been informed by some booked artists that they are receiving emails from [CNN] and [The Washington Post] encouraging them to boycott the Trump Kennedy Center,” Grenell wrote on X Tuesday. “The legacy media are left wing activists - and they are open about it.”

Artists, including Issa Rae, Peter Wolf, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, have all withdrawn from Kennedy Center performances since Trump returned to office.

On Monday, Jazz supergroup The Cookers announced on its website that it will not be performing across a series of two New Year’s Eve concerts.

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“Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice,” the group wrote in a statement. “Some of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us.”

The Doug Varone and Dancers troupe also added on Monday that it will not carry out a planned April performance at the center. And last week, drummer and vibraphonist Chuck Redd canceled a longstanding Christmas Eve jazz concert at the center in protest of the name change.

In response, the head of the Kennedy Center demanded $1 million from Redd, calling the move a “political stunt.”

In February, Trump broke with the center’s bipartisan tradition and installed a new series of MAGA-friendly board members, who quickly named him chairman of the center.

Earlier this month, the board claimed to vote unanimously to have changed the name of the center to the Trump-Kennedy Center. Some observers say this is not legal, and a congresswoman on a call about the decision said she was muted and not allowed to voice her criticisms.

The Trump administration has brushed off criticism of the move, including from Kennedy’s family members, arguing it saved the arts institution from falling into disrepair.