Bela Fleck Cancels Concert at Trump’s Kennedy Center: “Performing There Has Become Charged and Political”

Grammy-winning banjo player Bela Fleck is the latest artist to cancel a schedule performance at the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the arts and cultural institution as part of a wider takeover.

“I have withdrawn from my upcoming performance with the NSO at The Kennedy Center. Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music,” Fleck wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

Fleck was set to perform with the National Symphony Orchestra, with whom he earlier composed a banjo concerto that became the subject of a documentary he co-directed with Sascha Paladino.

“I look forward to playing with the NSO another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art,” Fleck added on Instagram. His social media post was condemned by Richard Grenell, a Trump ally whom the president chose to head the Kennedy Center after he forced out the previous leadership.

“You just made it political and caved to the woke mob who wants you to perform for only Lefties. This mob pressuring you will never be happy until you only play for Democrats,” Grenell said in an X post. “The Trump Kennedy Center believes all people are welcome – Democrats and Republicans and people uninterested in politics. We want performers who aren’t political – who simply love entertaining everyone regardless of who they voted for,” he added.

Fleck canceling his concert adds to a volatile calendar for the concert hall after Trump ousted the Kennedy Center board and named himself the institution’s chairman. That led to an earlier round of artist pushback, with performer Issa Rae and the producers of Hamilton canceling scheduled engagements, while musicians Ben Folds and Renee Fleming stepped down from advisory roles.