Grenell is demanding $1 million in damages from jazz musician Chuck Redd, who abruptly pulled out of his holiday “Jazz Jam” performance just days before it was set to take place.
In a sharply worded letter shared with Entertainment Weekly, Grenell accused Redd of intolerance and blamed him for financial losses at the center. He also praised Donald Trump, saying the former president had saved the institution from “almost certain destruction.”
Redd has hosted Christmas jazz events at the Kennedy Center since 2006. This year, however, he canceled the show after learning that Trump’s name had been added to the building’s exterior, ahead of the name of John F. Kennedy, for whom the center was originally created as a living memorial.
“Your last-minute cancellation has cost us considerably,” Grenell wrote, adding that the center plans to seek $1 million over what he called a “political stunt.” He also criticized Redd’s ticket sales and claimed the artist lacked donor support.
Redd, a respected drummer and vibraphone player, said his decision was deeply personal. Speaking to the Associated Press, he explained that seeing Trump’s name added to the Kennedy Center website and building prompted him to cancel.
“I’ve been performing at the Kennedy Center since the beginning of my career,” Redd later told CNN. “I was saddened to see this name change.”
The controversy has sparked wider backlash. After Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Congress passed a law designating the center as a memorial exclusively honoring him. Last week, the addition of Trump’s name to the exterior reignited debate over whether the board had the legal authority to do so.
Among those objecting is Joyce Beatty, who has introduced a lawsuit against the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees. She argues that federal law prohibits the center from being turned into a memorial for anyone other than Kennedy.
The Kennedy Center has stood firm. In a statement, vice president of public relations Roma Daravi said artists who cancel performances over political disagreements are being “selfish” and failing in what she called a basic responsibility to perform for all audiences.
As the dispute escalates, what began as a canceled holiday jazz concert has turned into a high-profile clash over politics, art, and the future identity of one of America’s most iconic cultural institutions.
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