For nearly two decades, Chuck Redd spent Christmas Eve the same way: onstage at the Kennedy Center, leading the annual Jazz Jam he’d helmed since 2006.
This year, he wasn’t there. And now the Kennedy Center wants $1 million for it.
Redd, a 67-year-old jazz drummer and vibraphone player, pulled out of the performance after the White House announced that President Trump’s name would be added to the building. The renaming became official on December 19. By Christmas Eve, the show was canceled.
“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 told the Associated Press. “I’ve been performing at the Kennedy Center since the beginning of my career and I was saddened to see this name change.”
The response from Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell — a Trump appointee who took over after the previous leadership was forced out — was swift and personal.
In a letter obtained by the Associated Press, Grenell accused Redd of staging a “political stunt” and called his decision “classic intolerance.” He announced the center would seek $1 million in damages.
But Grenell didn’t stop there. He mocked Redd’s drawing power, writing: “Your dismal ticket sales and lack of donor support, combined with your last-minute cancellation has cost us considerably. This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt.” He added: “The most avant-garde and well-regarded performers in your genre will still perform regularly, and unlike you, they’ll do it to sold-out crowds regardless of their political leanings.”
Redd’s biography on the Kennedy Center’s own website describes him as an “accomplished performer on both drums and vibraphone” who has shared the stage with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Byrd, and Barney Kessel.
He is not the first artist to walk away. Issa Rae withdrew from the venue earlier this year, telling the Daily Beast it was “an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds.” Others have quietly distanced themselves as well.
The renaming itself remains legally contested. Congress passed a law in 1964 designating the center as a living memorial to President Kennedy, and legal scholars say any change would require congressional approval. A Democratic lawmaker has filed a lawsuit challenging the move, and Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office.
None of that stopped the new signage from going up.
The Kennedy Center was built to be neutral ground — a place where art existed outside politics. Grenell’s letter makes clear that era is over. The question now is whether artists will keep showing up anyway, or whether the stage will empty out one cancellation at a time.
