Trump Administration Lawsuit Against Kennedy Center Christmas Jazz Musician Dismissed

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'Political Retribution'

Judge withdraws $1 million breach of contract lawsuit against Chuck Redd, citing Washington, D.C.'s anti-SLAPP protections

June 7, 2026

The Trump administration’s lawsuit against a jazz musician who canceled his annual Christmas concert at the Kennedy Center amid changes at the performing arts center has been dismissed.

In December, Chuck Redd, the bandleader of the Christmas Eve Jazz Jam at the Kennedy Center since 2006, announced he was canceling the event following Donald Trump’s decision to rename the venue to include the president’s name, a move that has since been reversed by a district judge.

“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 at the time.

After Redd nixed the concert, then-Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell threatened to sue Redd for $1 million over the cancelation, citing “classic intolerance” that was “very costly to a non-profit Arts institution.” A breach of contract lawsuit soon followed.

Redd’s lawyers filed for the lawsuit’s dismissal in March, and on Friday, a judge agreed, citing Washington, D.C.’s Anti-SLAPP laws that protect defendants against meritless lawsuits and “political retribution.”

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“The Center sued Mr. Redd because he publicly and rightly objected to adding Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, a living memorial to former President John F. Kennedy,” Lisa J. Banks, one of Redd’s lawyers, said in a statement (via The Associated Press). “The lawsuit against Mr. Redd was political retribution, pure and simple, by the Trump Kennedy Center, and the Court correctly saw it as such in dismissing the case with prejudice.”

Redd told the Associated Press he was “very pleased with the judge’s ruling.”

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