17 hours agoSat 27 Dec 2025 at 10:16pm

The Kennedy Center has had President Donald Trump's name added to it.  (AP: J Scott Applewhite)

In short:

Musician Chuck Redd has cancelled a performance at the Kennedy Center in response to the venue being rebranded as the Trump Kennedy Center. 

The Center's president has demanded $1.5 million in damages from Redd, labelling his decision a "political stunt".  

The venue was named after former US president John F Kennedy, with Kennedy's niece vowing to remove Mr Trump's name from the building once he leaves office. 

The president of the Kennedy Center has demanded $1.5 million in damages from a musician who cancelled a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced it would be renamed the Trump Kennedy Center. 

In a letter to musician Chuck Redd, Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell said Redd's decision to "withdraw at the last moment" was "explicitly in response to the Center's recent renaming, which honors President [Donald] Trump's extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure". 

He also said Redd's decision was "classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution". 

In the letter shared with the Associated Press, Mr Grenell said he would seek $US1 million ($1.5 million) in damages "for this political stunt". 

The White House says Donald Trump's hand-picked board approved the renaming.  (Reuters: Al Drago)

Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A drummer and vibraphone player, Redd has presided over holiday "Jazz Jams" at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William "Keter" Betts. 

Redd told The AP earlier this week he pulled out of the concert in the wake of the renaming.

"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. 

He said the event has been a "very popular holiday tradition" and often featured at least one student musician.

"[It is] one of the many reasons that it was very sad to have had to cancel," he said. 

Congress named the centre after former president John F Kennedy in 1964, after his assassination. 

Mr Grenell was chosen by Mr Trump to head the Kennedy Center after he forced out the previous leadership. 

According to the White House, Mr Trump's hand-picked board approved the renaming, which scholars have said violates the law. 

Kennedy's niece Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Mr Trump's name from the building once he leaves office, and former House historian Ray Smock is among those who have said any changes would have to be approved by Congress.

The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person's name on the building's exterior.

AP