Kennedy Center criticizes musician who canceled performance after Trump name added to building

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of the Kennedy Center on Friday fiercely criticized a musician's sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue after the White House announced that President Donald Trump's name would be added to the facility.

“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,” the venue's president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with The Associated Press.

In the letter, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages “for this political stunt.”

Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/kennedy-center-criticizes-musician-canceled-220332851.html

---

What damages? And quit kissing Trump's ass. That's neither healthy nor dignified.

[RandySF]

1. Hatch Act violation by Grennell there.

[travelingthrulife]

29. Hatch Act is completely irrelevant. There is no punishment.

[Intractable]

2. His contract is with the Kennedy Center; not the Trump-Kennedy Center.

Sounds like two different places to me.

[NotHardly]

14. THIS ... contracts are real and enforceable but they signed for the Kennedy Center not Trump/Kennedy Center

[MichMan]

31. so, if someone changes their name, due to marriage or other reason, debts like student loans are no longer collectable?

Good to know

[Kid Berwyn]

34. It is for an artist.

Can’t get any musician I know to play a single note for Hitler.

[electric_blue68]

20. Ah, interesting.

[2naSalit]

3. Everyone who was scheduled...

To perform there prior to the takeover should cancel. There's no reason to perform there until it is restored to its rightful name, functions and leadership.

[BootinUp]

4. I think a trial to settle this would be fun to observe. nt

[Norrrm]

5. "Trump's extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure"

I don't remember hearing that it was in danger of closing.

[COL Mustard]

16. It was doing just fine...

Until this past February. Something changed then...I just can't quite put my finger on it......

Anyone? Bueller?

[Marcuse]

6. Redd is simply complying with contract law while avoiding a criminal charge of accessory after the fact.

Why not change the name through the legislative process?

[Aussie105]

9. Indeed. there are a couple of sub topics where

you get told to your face . . .

'You Are Not Allowed to Discuss it That Way!'

[C_U_L8R]

7. Threatening lawsuits against artists. Nice.

Last edited Fri Dec 26, 2025, 11:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Proving right there with every word and deed, that Trump is a cancer on the arts and should be shunned by all.

[Aussie105]

8. "Chuck could not attend the event today because he had a cold."

"A runny nose, chills and fever, and he couldn't see straight."

"Please note this is a purely medical based non-attendance and not a comment on anything else!"

Signed: Chuck's Mom.

$1M damages?

Seriously, a paranoid MAGA snowflake doing his bullying thing?

[no_hypocrisy]

10. If Grenell really was serious about suing Redd,

he would have taken the generic breach of contract route and left out politics.

EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN! EPSTEIN!

[Sneederbunk]

11. Thank you Mr. Redd.

The political stunt is on the side of the building.

[Klarkashton]

12. Trump will bankrupt that goddamn place.

He will stage cage fights there or what ever the hell those things are.

[COL Mustard]

18. Monster truck races!!!

Grave Digger will be there!!! Will be wild!!!

[Mysterian]

13. The assholes just prove the artist was correct

by acting like even bigger assholes.

[CarolinaNC]

15. the man signed with 'the kennedy center' not the trump kennedy center.

[SunSeeker]

17. Grenell committed a repudiation of the contract by turning the center into a Trump shrine.

That excused Chuck Redd from performing his end of the contract.

Chuck Redd did not sign up to perform at a Trump shrine, he signed up to perform at the Kennedy Memorial, and only the Kennedy Memorial.

[electric_blue68]

19. STFU, Drumphf STOOGE; Richard Grenell!!!

"extroidinary efforts"

PAH!!!

[William Seger]

23. More like "extraordinary chutzpah" to replace the board and tell them to rename the place

... after THEY cancel all the "woke" programs.

[William Seger]

21. Grenell: "True artists perform for everyone regardless of the political affiliation of audience members."

Lying is mandatory if you're a #rump defender — Redd said why he cancelled, and it wasn't because of the "political affiliation of audience members.” It was because of an obnoxiously self-obsessed wannabe king, suffering delusions of grandeur and severe narcissistic envy, had vandalized a national presidential memorial by slapping his extraordinarily divisive name on it. Performing there now might be taken as legitimizing that felony-level egotism.

[BaronChocula]

22. Gay trumpers

I just don't get it.

[LudwigPastorius]

24. Fuck Trump, Grenell, and the sycophants on the board.

Besides the fact that Trump defaced the building with his name, Mr. Redd has very good reason for not performing there. The Trumpists running the place aren't paying the musicians.

Bring that lawsuit, beeyotch! You will be buried in court.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-news/kennedy-center-backlash-artist-payments-1236439599/

[oldmanlynn]

25. Who cares what richard white supremacist grenell says.

He is a crazy like the others

[The Roux Comes First]

26. Am I Correct in Recalling That Felon47 Recently Packed the Board of the Kennedy Center with the Absolute

Dregs of his bottom-of-the-barrel of ass-kissing recruit candidates?

[Beartracks]

27. "this political stunt" -- More projection from Trumpists.

[BidenRocks]

28. Send Grenell a post card.

Greetings from Carnegie Hall!

[travelingthrulife]

30. These rotten people sue for every damned thing. Remember when they were

accusing Democrats of always filing frivolous lawsuits?

[PufPuf23]

32. The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts honors JFK not Trump.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed bipartisan legislation creating a National Cultural Center in the nation’s capital. In November of 1962, President and Mrs. Kennedy launched a $30 million fundraising campaign for the Center’s construction. Former President Eisenhower and his wife Mamie participated in the event which demonstrated the bipartisan support for a world-class center for the performing arts in D. C. In 1963, President Kennedy signed legislation to extend the fundraising deadline for the Center.

Two months after President Kennedy’s assassination, by an Act of Congress signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 23, 1964, the nation’s National Cultural Center was designated as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. By this Act, President Kennedy’s devotion to the advancement of the performing arts in the United States was recognized.

from: https://www.kennedy-center.org/our-story/

Trump defines stolen valor and twisted jealousy.

[flvegan]

33. Blow it out your ass, Grenell.

Self-loathing boot-licking chud halfwit.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

35. Trump's Kennedy Center ally hits musician with $1M demand over Christmas Eve cancelation

This lawsuit will be interesting to follow. The artist contracted to perform in the Kennedy Center and that name no longer exists.

Trump's Kennedy Center ally hits musician with M demand over Christmas Eve cancelation

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2025-12-27T02:00:41.533Z

https://www.rawstory.com/kennedy-center-2674831343

The president of the Kennedy Center’s board is once again lashing out at critics of President Donald Trump – this time targeting a veteran jazz musician who abruptly canceled a Christmas Eve performance following the center’s MAGA-style renaming to the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”

Richard Grenell, a Trump ally who has led the board since February, blasted musician Chuck Redd after the drummer and vibraphonist withdrew from his long-running holiday “Jazz Jams” performance at the venue, a tradition he has overseen since 2006, Politico reported Friday.

In a sharply worded letter shared with The Associated Press, Grenell accused Redd of engaging in “classic intolerance” and called the cancellation a “political stunt” that he claimed would cause significant financial harm to the nonprofit arts institution.

“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 in the letter, adding that he intends to seek $1 million in damages over the last-minute withdrawal.

Redd told the AP on the day of his scheduled performance that he canceled the performance after seeing Trump’s name added to the 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, as reported by Politico.

If this case goes to trial before a DC jury, it will be fun to see what happens.