Photo Credit: Anita Mishra / CC by 3.0
The Kennedy Center has been ordered to pay over $250,000 to jazz musician Chuck Redd, who canceled his appearance in protest of Trump’s takeover that began last year.
A legal battle between jazz musician Chuck Redd and the Trump-led Kennedy Center has concluded in favor of the musician. On Monday, D.C. Judge Tanya M. Jones Bosier awarded him $252,479.70 for attorneys’ fees and other legal fees, while a spokesperson for the Kennedy Center said it plans to appeal the decision.
Redd was one of the numerous artists who refused to perform at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts after members of the Trump-appointed board voted to put the president’s name on the building in December. Redd backed out of the annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam at the Kennedy Center, which he had hosted for 20 years. His reasoning for doing so was that the building’s name change was illegal.
The Kennedy Center sued Redd in March for breach of contract, claiming that he “chose to abuse the public forum provided to him by the Center to make a political statement and to deprive the public of the concert he promised.”
That lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Jones Bosier later that month, noting that Redd had never signed a contract with the Kennedy Center for the holiday concert. The judge further argued that even if there had been a contract, the Kennedy Center had not provided enough evidence to show that Redd was violating it.
The Kennedy Center now has 45 days to pay Redd’s attorney fees, according to Monday’s order.
“The Trump-controlled Kennedy Center tried to silence opposition to its illegal name change by filing a meritless lawsuit against jazz musician Chuck Redd,” said Redd’s attorney, Lisa Banks. “The court rightly dismissed that breach of contract lawsuit, finding there was no contract and no damages, and was brought against Mr. Redd based on his protected opposition.”
In May, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center, determining that it required an act of Congress to change the name, which Trump did not have. The building was designated by Congress as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy in January 1964, two months after he was assassinated.
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