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Kennedy Center threatens $1M lawsuit after musician Chuck Redd cancels show over Trump renaming
The Kennedy Center threatens legal action against musician Chuck Redd for canceling a Christmas Eve performance in protest of President Trump's name addition.
The Kennedy Center has threatened legal action against jazz musician Chuck Redd after he abruptly canceled a long-running Christmas Eve performance, citing opposition to the addition of President Donald Trump’s name to the historic arts venue.
The move surrounds broader controversy over the legality and political implications of the renaming.
Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player, pulled out of the holiday concert just days after the White House announced that Trump’s name would be added to the Kennedy Center. The musician has led the venue’s popular holiday “Jazz Jams” since 2006, making the Christmas Eve performance a long-standing tradition.
What the musician said
In an email to The Associated Press, Redd said he decided to cancel after seeing Trump’s name appear first on the Kennedy Center’s website and then on the building itself.
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“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told the AP, adding that the decision was especially painful given the event’s popularity and its tradition of featuring student musicians.
Kennedy Center president threatens legal action
Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell responded forcefully, accusing Redd of causing financial harm to the nonprofit institution. In a letter shared with the AP, Grenell criticized the cancellation as politically motivated and warned of legal consequences.
“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment, explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure, is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” Grenell wrote.
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Grenell said the Kennedy Center would seek $1 million in damages, describing the cancellation as a “political stunt.”
Legal questions over renaming
The controversy extends beyond the canceled performance. The Kennedy Center was established by Congress in 1964 as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, following his assassination the previous year.
Legal scholars have noted, as per AP, that the law governing the center explicitly prohibits naming the building after anyone else or adding another individual’s name to its exterior. Despite that, the White House has said that Trump’s handpicked board approved the renaming. Scholars and historians argue that any such change would require congressional approval.
Grenell, a close ally of Trump, was appointed to lead the Kennedy Center after the president removed its previous leadership. He has defended the renaming as a reflection of a “bipartisan space” and has claimed Trump “saved” the institution.
Opposition to the move has continued to grow. Kerry Kennedy, President Kennedy’s niece, has vowed to remove Trump’s name once he leaves office. Former House historian Ray Smock has also said that altering the building’s name without congressional consent would be unlawful. According to the Irish Star, Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty has filed a lawsuit challenging the renaming.
