Daniel Kreps
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The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on June 5, 2026 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images 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.”
