Trump-Kennedy Center says it plans to sue jazz musician who canceled Christmas performance over Trump name change
The Trump-Kennedy Center, led by President Donald Trump's appointee Richard Grenell, says it is planning to file a $1 million lawsuit “after the holidays” against jazz musician Chuck Redd.
It comes after the artist canceled a Christmas Eve performance after Trump's name was added to the building's signage, a spokesperson for the center confirmed to ABC News on Monday.
The cancellation of the performance, an annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam scheduled on the evening of Dec. 24 in Washington, D.C., was confirmed on the national cultural center’s website, and came days after Trump’s name was added alongside President John F. Kennedy's.
The threat to file a $1 million lawsuit was expressed by Grenell, the center’s president, in a letter that was addressed to Redd and obtained by ABC News.
“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. Regrettably, your action surrenders to the sad bullying tactics employed by certain elements on the left, who have sought to intimidate artists into boycotting performances at our national cultural center,” Grenell wrote to Redd.
“Your dismal ticket sales and lack of donor support, combined with your last-minute cancellation has cost us considerably. This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt,” Grenell continued.
It is unclear if Redd has obtained legal representation. ABC News reached out to Redd for comment, but did not hear back.
In an email to the Associated Press, which first reported on the cancellation on Christmas Eve, Redd wrote that he decided to cancel his performance when he “saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building.”
"Any artist cancelling their show at the Trump Kennedy Center over political differences isn’t courageous or principled—they are selfish, intolerant, and have failed to meet the basic duty of a public artist: to perform for all people,” Roma Daravi, Vice President of PR at the Trump-Kennedy Center told ABC News in a statement on Monday, confirming the Center’s intent to file a complaint against Redd.
“Art is a shared cultural experience meant to unite, not exclude,” she added. “The Trump Kennedy Center is a true bipartisan institution that welcomes artists and patrons from all backgrounds—great art transcends politics, and America’s cultural center remains committed to presenting popular programming that inspires and resonates with all audiences."
Redd is a jazz drummer and vibraphonist who previously served as artist-in-residence at The Smithsonian Jazz Café in Washington, D.C. from 2004 to 2008 and was also a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra for 15 years, according to an artist profile on the Trump-Kennedy Center’s website.
His show’s cancellation comes after the White House announced on Dec. 18 that the board at the Kennedy Center, which President Trump now chairs and is newly filled with his appointees, voted "unanimously" to rename the building the "Trump-Kennedy Center." The signage was updated a day later.
The national cultural center, which is located on the banks of the Potomac River, was originally named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to honor the late president, and it first opened its doors on Sept. 8, 1971.
Trump, who was sworn in for his second term as president on Jan. 20, dismissed most of the Board of Trustees during his first weeks in office and replaced them with his own appointees. In February 2025, the new board announced that they had elected Trump as chairman.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed in a social media post that the board voted to rename the Center “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building.”
"Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation. Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur," Leavitt continued.
House Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who serves as an ex officio member of the Center’s board, sued Trump on Monday, arguing that the board’s vote to rename the building was illegal because an act of Congress is required for such an action.
Asked for comment on the lawsuit, White House spokesperson Liz Huston instead told ABC News in a statement on Monday that the Kennedy Center's board voted to rename it after Trump "stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center ..."
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Isabella Murray, Michelle Stoddart, Karen Travers, Lauren Peller and Alex Ederson contributed to this report.
