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The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., is seeking $1 million in damages from a musician who canceled a scheduled performance after former President Donald Trump’s name was added to the venue, according to reports.
Chuck Redd, who has hosted an annual Christmas Eve concert at the center since 2006, reportedly called off the performance following a board vote to rename the institution the Trump Kennedy Center.
Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, stated in a letter that Redd’s cancellation was a “political stunt” that “has cost us considerably.” Redd has yet to publicly respond to the allegations.
After assuming office, Trump replaced several board members with allies, who then voted to appoint him as chairman of the board.
In his letter to Redd, Grenell characterized the cancellation as “classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution.”
Grenell further stated, “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 $1m in damages from you for this political stunt,” the letter concluded.
Earlier, the White House announced the center’s board had unanimously voted to rename the cultural institution as The Donald J Trump and John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Crews were later seen etching the former president’s name onto the building’s façade, and the center’s website and some social media accounts were also updated to reflect the new name.
The White House said the renaming was in recognition of Trump’s efforts to renovate the building, but the move drew criticism from Democrats, artists, and members of the Kennedy family.
“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 told the Associated Press earlier this week.
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio, has filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Trump’s name from the center.
Beatty argues that because the center was named in a 1964 law, changing its name requires “an act of Congress.”
The lawsuit alleges Beatty was muted during a meeting about the name change when she attempted to voice her opposition. She is one of several lawmakers designated as members of the board by U.S. law.
Work on a national performing arts center began in the 1950s, and following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Congress designated it as a living memorial to him.
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