Kennedy Center President Asked for $1 Million in Damages After Musician Canceled

The president of the Kennedy Center, Richard Grenell, wrote a letter to musician Chuck Redd asking for $1 million in damages after Redd canceled his Christmas Eve performance at the last minute. Grenell claims that Redd canceled the show over the Kennedy Center’s name change to The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. “Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” Grenell wrote in a letter to the musician, shared with AP News. “Your dismal ticket sales and lack of donor support, combined with your last-minute cancellation has cost us considerably. This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt.”

On Wednesday, Redd expressed his disappointment with the center’s name change. “When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” he told AP News in an email. The concert became an annual Christmas tradition and featured student musicians, which made Redd feel “very sad” about canceling the show. Redd has been performing at the Kennedy Center since 2006.