Kennedy Center ordered to pay jazz drummer Chuck Redd $250,000 after losing lawsuit

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. must pay jazz drummer Chuck Redd more than $252,000. Judge Tanya Jones Bosier of the Superior Court ordered the institution to cover the legal fees Redd incurred while defending himself against a lawsuit the center had filed against him. The exact amount of $252,479.70 must be paid within 45 days. The judge described the figure as a fair and reasonable assessment of the costs incurred.

The entire legal battle traces back to a decision made in late 2024 by the Kennedy Center's board of directors, appointed by President Donald Trump. That board voted to rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Redd, who had led the Christmas Eve Jazz Jam at the center every year since 2006, informed the organization that he and his fellow musicians would not perform at the traditional Christmas concert as a protest against the name change. He was one of several musicians who cancelled appearances at the Kennedy Center following the controversial rebranding.

The Kennedy Center, under its new Trump aligned leadership, took Redd to court in March over alleged breach of contract. The institution claimed the drummer had violated an agreement by cancelling his performance. Redd asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that no signed contract had ever existed and that the plaintiffs therefore had no legal basis for their claim. In June, Judge Bosier ruled entirely in Redd's favor, throwing out the case after the drummer demonstrated that no contract existed, and further finding that no damages had been suffered and that the lawsuit had been motivated by his protected opposition.

Redd's attorney, Lisa J. Banks, responded sharply in a statement following the new ruling on legal costs. According to her, the Trump controlled Kennedy Center had used a baseless lawsuit to try to suppress opposition to what she called the unlawful name change. Banks argued that no citizen should have to spend time and money defending themselves against unfounded and politically motivated lawsuits filed by the Trump administration.

The order to pay legal costs is yet another legal setback for the Trump aligned leadership of the Kennedy Center. A federal judge had already ruled in May that adding Trump's name to the building was unlawful and ordered the name to be removed from the venue and all associated materials, a ruling that was upheld on appeal. A planned closure of the center for renovations was also blocked by the court. Pianist and singer Ben Folds had previously testified before Congress that Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center had undermined the federal arts institution and transformed it into what he described as a heavily politicized environment.