Kennedy Center’s President harshly condemned a musician’s abrupt choice on Friday of pulling out of a Christmas Eve show at the facility, especially following the disclosure by the White House of which was that President Donald Trump‘s name would be incorporated into the venue. Richard Grenell, who is the president of the venue, made a statement in a correspondence to percussionist as well as vibraphone artist Chuck Redd, who has overseen the Kennedy Center’s holiday Jazz Jams since 2006.
The venue President penned, “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 further indicated that he would pursue $1 million in damages “for this political stunt.” Redd disclosed in an email to The Associated Press that he reportedly withdrew from the performance following the renaming announcement.
BREAKING: OMG. Trump’s team sues musician who cancelled his Kennedy Center concert for $1 million over his “political stunt!”
Trump is apparently so butthurt that legendary jazz musician Chuck Redd cancelled his traditional Christmas jazz concert at the Kennedy Center over… pic.twitter.com/xHKUJCweK5
— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) December 27, 2025
“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 stated. The musician stated that the event has been a “very popular holiday tradition” where he showcased at least one student musician, on a frequent note, which is one of the many reasons that it was very sad to have had to cancel.”
To dig deep into the topic, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and the following year, Congress passed a law designating that center as a living memorial to him. The law forbids the board of trustees from explicitly converting the center into a memorial for anyone else or even including another person’s name on the exterior of the building.
Now, Grenell, who is a well-known Trump ally, was appointed by Donald Trump himself to lead the Kennedy Center after he ousted the previous leadership. According to the White House, Trump’s personally selected board approved the remaining, which is seen as a move against the law, according to the scholars.
Trump-Kennedy Center filing $1M lawsuit against musician who pulled out of Christmas Eve concert over name change https://t.co/BBS1qhM0Ic pic.twitter.com/2eVKGs3718
— New York Post (@nypost) December 27, 2025
Not to mention several other critics have also spoken out on the change, apart from Redd. Kennedy’s niece, Kerry Kennedy, has also pledged to remove Donald Trump’s name from the building when he leaves the office. Ray Smock, former House historian, is also of the same view that any sort of changes like this would need to come through Congressional approval.
Joyce Beatty, the US Representative, has gone a step further by suing Trump for adding his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, without proper approval. And despite all these criticisms, the center’s president Grenell, has not stepped back in defending the US President and has reflected the name change as a display of “bipartisan space reflecting the new era.” He wrote on his X handle, “Donald Trump saved it.”
