Kennedy Center ordered to pay $252,000 to jazz musician who canceled concert over Trump name change

The cancellation and the lawsuit

Chuck Redd, a drummer and vibraphonist who had hosted the Kennedy Center's annual Christmas Eve jazz concert for nearly 20 years, canceled the 2025 performance after the center's Trump-appointed board voted in December to add President Donald Trump's name to the institution. Redd emailed a center employee saying he would feel "profoundly uncomfortable" performing there as long as Trump's name was on the building, and told the center he was bowing out because of "the defiant and illegal name change happening to the Kennedy Center." Richard Grenell, the center's president at the time, sent Redd a letter threatening to seek $1 million in damages for what he termed a "political stunt." The center sued Redd in D.C. Superior Court in March for breach of contract, citing a morals clause and accusing him of choosing to "abuse the public forum provided to him by the center to make a political statement."

The dismissal

In June, Judge Tanya M. Jones Bosier dismissed the lawsuit, finding that Redd had never signed a contract for the 2025 performance. The Kennedy Center had argued that Redd had agreed to a written contract to play for $6,500 regardless of whether he signed it.

There's no dispute that he did not sign the 2025 agreement.

The judge also found that the center had not provided enough evidence of financial damage from the cancellation of the free concert, and sided with Redd's contention that his conduct was protected under the D.C. Anti-SLAPP Act. She noted that multiple artists had canceled performances, leading to the cancellation of the Jazz Jam in its entirety, and that Redd was the only performer to his knowledge who made a public statement and was sued thereafter. According to the Washington Post, the center had secretly offered to settle before the ruling, proposing to drop the case if Redd paid $7,500 and performed at Christmas Eve 2026 with no political commentary or discussion of his reasons for backing out.

The fee award

On Monday, August 10, Judge Jones Bosier ordered the Kennedy Center to pay Redd $252,479.70 in attorneys' fees and legal costs, about $6,000 less than the more than $258,000 his lawyers had sought. The center has 45 days to pay. The center's lawyers had argued the requested amount was "nothing short of astonishing" and "out of all proportion to the issue at stake." A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the institution plans to appeal the award.

The separate name-removal case

In a separate federal case, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Trump's name removed from the Kennedy Center and other materials by June. A tarp now covers part of the facade, concealing the original name without the president's. The judge has asked the board to explain why the covering has not been removed and ordered a status update after the board meets this month. The building was designated as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy in January 1964, two months after his assassination, in a law passed by Congress.

Reactions

Redd's attorney Lisa Banks said in a statement that "the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center tried to silence opposition to its illegal name change by filing a meritless lawsuit against jazz musician Chuck Redd."

No citizen should have to spend time and money fending off baseless and politically motivated lawsuits filed by the Trump administration.

Redd's legal team also included Debra Katz, a high-profile employment lawyer whose clients have included Christine Blasey Ford during Justice Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation process.