Fireworks as Trump admin’s attempt to silence jazz drummer backfires spectacularly

A judge ordered the Kennedy Center to pay thousands to jazz drummer Chuck Redd, who canceled a Christmas Eve concert after the center added President Donald Trump's name to the building.

Associate Judge Tanya Jones Bosier of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia signed the order Monday. It follows her dismissing the lawsuit against the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts under the District's Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation statute — a statute designed to dismiss lawsuits that target free speech — back in June.

The case stemmed from a free concert with no signed contract.

Redd had led the Kennedy Center's annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam since 2006, according to the Associated Press.

On December 18, 2025, the center's board voted to add President Trump's name to the building.

"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.

Former Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell responded within days, threatening to seek $1 million in damages, according to NPR.

"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 to Redd.

The Jazz Jam was a free concert, but Grenell's own letter acknowledged Redd's "dismal ticket sales and lack of donor support," according to the court's dismissal order.

The center filed suit in March 2026, then offered to drop it — for a price.

The center offered to drop the suit if Redd paid $7,500, agreed to perform again and made no political comments about his cancellation, Fox 13 reported.

Redd refused and fought the lawsuit in court.

"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," Redd's attorneys at Katz Banks Kumin said in a statement.

Judge Jones Bosier dismissed the case on June 5, finding no valid contract and no provable damages.

The court noted that multiple artists canceled performances but only Redd — the one who spoke publicly — was sued, according to the dismissal order.

Under the anti-SLAPP law, a defendant who wins dismissal is entitled to have the plaintiff pay legal fees.

The Washington Post reported the center must pay the $252,479.70 within 45 days.

Trump's name has since been removed from the building under a separate court order — a federal judge ruled the board that renamed the center had no authority to do so, Bloomberg Law reported.