Maryland musician Chuck Redd wins legal fight with Kennedy Center over canceled performance

Maryland jazz musician Chuck Redd scored a legal victory this month when a D.C. judge threw out a Kennedy Center lawsuit that accused him of breaching a contract after he canceled a performance in protest of President Donald Trump’s association with the venue.

Redd, a Takoma Park resident, said he is “very pleased with the outcome of this ruling,” in an email to The Banner on Wednesday.

The official legal battle began in March, when the Kennedy Center filed a suit claiming that the 67-year-old drummer and vibraphonist breached a written contract to perform at the Christmas Eve Jazz Jam.

Redd, who teaches at the University of Maryland School of Music, has been hosting the annual holiday show since 2006. He told the Associated Press in December that he canceled the concert after learning that Trump’s name was added to the facility.

In response, Richard Grenell, who served as president of the center at the time, sent Redd a letter detailing their intention to seek $1 million in damages for the canceled show, in which he also called Redd’s decision “classic intolerance.”

“Regrettably, your action surrenders to the sad bullying tactics employed by certain elements on the left, who have sought to intimidate artists into boycotting performances at our national cultural center,” Grenell said in the letter.

Counsel for Redd filed a motion to dismiss the case a few weeks later, which included documentation that Redd was sent a contract on Dec. 9, and it was not signed before he canceled the show on Dec. 19. Redd’s cancellation came the same day the building’s name was updated to include Trump’s name.

Lawyers Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, who represented Redd in the case, said in a statement, “The Trump Kennedy Center filed this lawsuit to send a message to anyone who dares to publicly disagree with the decisions of those in power.”

The attorneys sought to have the case dismissed under Washington, D.C.’s Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) Act, a law designed to protect people from lawsuits intended to silence criticism on matters of public concern. Judge Tanya Jones Bosier granted that request on June 5.

Banks made a statement that the court “correctly” saw the suit as “political retribution.”

“The Center sued Mr. Redd because he publicly and rightly objected to adding Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center,” said Banks in the news release.

This legal loss is another setback in Trump’s plans for the Kennedy Center. It comes on the heels of a late May court order to remove his name from the center. While the name has been changed back to the original on the website, the outdoor signage on the venue is still in place.

According to an internal memo obtained by POLTICO, employees have until Friday to remove all references of the center being named for anyone other than John F. Kennedy.