Musician who canceled Kennedy Center gig over Trump wins $252K legal-fee award

A Washington, D.C., judge ordered the Kennedy Center to pay $252,479.70 in attorneys’ fees and costs to jazz musician Chuck Redd. Redd canceled his planned 2025 Christmas Eve Jazz Jam after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the center’s facade.

The Kennedy Center sued Redd after threatening to seek $1 million in damages, but Judge Tanya Jones Bosier dismissed the case in June. On Aug. 10, Bosier granted part of Redd’s fee request and ordered payment within 45 days. The Kennedy Center said it plans to appeal.

A jazz musician stood his ground

Chuck Redd had hosted the Kennedy Center’s annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam for years. He backed out of the 2025 show shortly after Trump’s name appeared on the building’s facade. Redd said he could not perform under a name he saw as an illegal rebrand.

His decision came as other artists also stepped away from Kennedy Center bookings. Redd told reporters he made the call after seeing the new signage online and on the building itself. He framed his exit as a matter of personal conscience rather than a business dispute.

The center did not see it that way at first. Officials called his withdrawal a political stunt and said it hurt the venue’s reputation. That framing set up a legal fight that would stretch on for months.

A judge dismissed the case in June

D.C. Superior Court Judge Tanya Jones Bosier reviewed the center’s claims that summer. She found no evidence that Redd had signed the 2025 performance agreement in question. Without a valid contract, a breach-of-contract claim could not stand.

Bosier dismissed the lawsuit entirely in June. Redd’s lawyer, Lisa Banks, called the case political retribution rather than a genuine legal dispute. She said the center went after Redd because of his public criticism of the renaming.

The dismissal did not end things right away. Redd still faced months of legal bills built up while fighting the suit. His team asked the court to make the center cover those costs.

The Kennedy Center threatened a $1 million lawsuit

Then-Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell sent Redd a letter on Dec. 26 calling his cancellation “classic intolerance” and a “political stunt.” Grenell gave Redd notice that the center would seek $1 million in damages.

The Kennedy Center sued Redd for breach of contract in March. It argued that their past dealings and communications created an enforceable agreement, despite Redd’s failure to sign the proposed 2025 contract. The center cited lost goodwill, marketing expenses, and other costs from the canceled concert.

Redd’s attorneys argued that no binding contract existed and that the case arose from his public criticism of the name change. Judge Tanya Jones Bosier ultimately ruled that the center had failed to establish a valid breach-of-contract claim.

Legal fees topped $250,000

On Aug. 10, Judge Tanya Jones Bosier ordered the Kennedy Center to pay $252,479.70 in attorneys’ fees and costs to Redd’s counsel within 45 days. The figure covers the attorney’s work required to defend against the lawsuit.

Redd’s lawyers had requested at least $258,325.72. Bosier found most of the requested fees reasonable but reduced the award by excluding $2,604.42 in computerized legal research expenses and by lowering the compensable hourly rate for one attorney.

Redd attorney Lisa Banks welcomed the decision, saying no citizen should have to spend time and money defending against what she called baseless and politically motivated litigation. The Kennedy Center says it intends to appeal the fee ruling.

The Trump name change fueled the dispute

The dispute began after the Kennedy Center’s Trump-appointed board voted in December 2025 to add President Donald Trump’s name to the institution. Workers placed Trump’s name on the facade on Dec. 19, the same day Redd told center staff that he would not move forward with his Christmas Eve performance.

In a separate federal lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on May 29 that the Kennedy Center could not be formally renamed without an act of Congress. He ordered Trump’s name removed from the building and official materials.

The lettering was physically removed from the Kennedy Center’s facade on June 13, with scaffolding and tarps covering the area during the work. The administration has appealed the underlying decision to rename it, but an appeals court has declined to restore Trump’s name while that appeal proceeds.

Fun fact: Chuck Redd, the acclaimed jazz veteran who balances his time between the drums and the vibraphone, estimates that he has appeared on close to 100 albums throughout his extensive career.

Other artists also walked away from shows

Redd was among several performers who canceled Kennedy Center appearances after Trump’s name was added to the building. The Cookers withdrew from a New Year’s Eve performance, while Doug Varone and Dancers canceled an April engagement. Folk singer Kristy Lee also canceled a scheduled appearance.

The artists did not all explain their decisions in exactly the same terms. Doug Varone and Dancers directly criticized the institution’s direction, while the Cookers’ group statement did not explicitly mention Trump or the renaming. Cookers saxophonist Billy Harper separately condemned performing at a venue bearing Trump’s name.

Redd’s dispute became legally distinct when the Kennedy Center filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against him in March. The center’s case was dismissed in June, followed by the Aug. 10 award of attorneys’ fees.

The Kennedy Center plans to appeal

A Kennedy Center spokesperson says the institution intends to appeal the attorneys’ fee ruling. As of Aug. 13, current public reporting describes the appeal as planned and does not detail the specific arguments the center intends to make.

The center’s leadership changed shortly after the breach-of-contract case was filed. Richard Grenell, who had threatened to seek $1 million from Redd, stepped down as the Kennedy Center’s president in March and was succeeded by Matt Floca.

Bosier’s Aug. 10 order requires the center to pay $252,479.70 to Redd’s counsel within 45 days. The center’s planned appeal means the litigation may continue beyond the fee ruling.

The case centered on speech and contract law

Redd’s attorneys argued that the lawsuit was political retaliation for his criticism of the Kennedy Center’s name change. Bosier granted Redd’s anti-SLAPP motion after concluding that the dispute involved his advocacy on an issue of public interest and that the Kennedy Center had not shown that its contract claim was likely to succeed.

Bosier also dismissed the breach-of-contract claim after finding that the Kennedy Center had not established a binding 2025 agreement with Redd. The decision therefore rested on both the speech-related issues raised by the anti-SLAPP motion and the specific contract facts before the court.

Little-known fact: Architect Edward Durell Stone was selected in 1959 to design the National Cultural Center, which later became the Kennedy Center.

TL;DR

• A judge ordered the Kennedy Center to pay $252,479.70 in attorneys’ fees and costs to Chuck Redd’s counsel.
• Redd canceled a 2025 Christmas Eve show to protest the addition of Trump’s name to the venue.
• The center sued Redd for breach of contract after threatening to seek $1 million in damages.
• A judge dismissed the lawsuit in June, finding that the Kennedy Center had not established a binding 2025 agreement.
• The Kennedy Center says it plans to appeal the fee order.

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This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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