The Kennedy Center’s president sharply rebuked musician Chuck Redd on Friday after Redd abruptly canceled a Christmas Eve performance, citing the venue’s recent decision to add President Donald Trump’s name to the facility.
In a letter shared with The Associated Press, Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell called the last-minute withdrawal “classic intolerance” and said it was “very costly to a non-profit Arts institution.” Grenell wrote that Redd’s decision to pull out “explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure,” and warned he would pursue $1 million in damages “for this political stunt.”
Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Redd—a drummer and vibraphone player—has led the Kennedy Center’s holiday “Jazz Jams” since 2006, after taking over from bassist William “Keter” Betts. In an email Wednesday to The Associated Press, Redd said he canceled after noticing the change reflected on the Kennedy Center’s website and then, hours later, on the building itself.
“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 wrote. He added that the show had become a “very popular holiday tradition,” often featuring at least one student musician—making the cancellation, he said, especially disappointing.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed legislation the following year establishing the center as a living memorial to him.
Grenell, a Trump ally, was selected to lead the Kennedy Center after the president pushed out the prior leadership. The White House has said Trump’s handpicked board approved the renaming, though scholars have argued the move conflicts with the law governing the institution. Kennedy’s niece, Kerry Kennedy, has said she intends to remove Trump’s name once he leaves office. Former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any such change would require congressional approval.
The law, according to critics, explicitly bars the board of trustees from turning the center into a memorial for anyone else—and from placing another person’s name on the building’s exterior.
