Ambassador Richard Grenell, the Trump-appointed president of the Kennedy Center, said the organization will seek $1 million in damages from noted jazz musician Chuck Redd after Redd abruptly canceled this year’s free Christmas Eve concert in protest of the center’s renaming to “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
In the letter sent Dec. 26 to Redd, first reported by the AP, Grenell wrote: “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.”
“This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt,” Grenell wrote.
In a post on X Saturday night about his legal threat to Redd, Grenell said, “The left is boycotting the Arts because Trump is supporting the Arts. But we will not let them cancel shows without consequences. The Arts are for everyone — and the Left is mad about it.”
Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Redd had led the annual Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center since 2006. On Wednesday, he told the AP that he nixed this year’s event after Trump’s name was added to the organization’s building and website. “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 said, per the AP.
Workers on Dec. 19 added Trump’s name to the center, coming one day after the White House claimed that the Kennedy Center board of trustees — handpicked by President Trump — voted unanimously to rename the facility the “Trump Kennedy Center.”
Legal experts say the renaming of the center was illegal, because a 1964 federal law established its name as “the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” after the slain president and explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from adding any other name to the building’s exterior. On Monday (Dec. 22), U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) sued Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board seeking to force the removal of Trump’s name from the organization, saying an act of Congress is required to change its name.
The free Dec. 24 concert at the Kennedy Center had been scheduled to take place Tuesday at 12 p.m. at the center’s Millennium Stage. “Join in our annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam for an evening of music that’ll fill you with holiday cheer,” the cultural center had said in promoting the event.
Redd, 67, is “well known internationally as a performer on drums and vibraphone” and is featured on more than 80 recordings, according to his website. The musician began recording and touring at the age of 21 when he joined the Charlie Byrd Trio. He also became a member of the Great Guitars (Barney Kessel, Byrd and Herb Ellis) and served as artist-in-residence at the Smithsonian Jazz Café in Washington, D.C., from 2004-08. Redd also was a member of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra for 15 years.
After Trump took office for a second term in February 2025, Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter was fired. Trump then appointed Grenell, who was ambassador to Germany during the first Trump administration and had served as Trump’s envoy for special missions. Trump also ousted Democratic board members of the Kennedy Center and replaced them with his own allies.
Trump had criticized the Kennedy Center for curating woke programming. “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in announcing Grenell’s appointment. At the Kennedy Center’s opening night of “Les Misérables” in June, four drag queens attended the performance and were seated below the presidential box, CNN reported.
