Kennedy Center Must Pay Musician $250,000 in Trump Name Spat
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington was ordered to pay more than $250,000 in legal fees to a musician who
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington was ordered to pay more than $250,000 in legal fees to a musician who canceled a Christmas Eve concert over the venue’s move to add President Donald Trump’s name. A judge ruled this week that the lawyers for Charles “Chuck” Redd were entitled to nearly all of the fees they asked for after defeating the Kennedy Center’s lawsuit accusing the jazz drummer of breaching a contract to host the holiday “Jazz Jam.” The decision Monday marks the latest high-dollar fee ruling in court fights over controversies stemming from Trump’s second term.
In recent weeks, judges ordered the US Department of Defense to pay more than $450,000 to attorneys who sued over research funding cuts and directed the Endowment for the Humanities to set aside money in anticipation of a future million-dollar fee fight. The Kennedy Center plans to appeal, according to a statement shared by a spokesperson. The fee award “is appropriate as no citizen should have to spend time and money fending off baseless and politically motivated lawsuits filed by the Trump administration,” Redd’s attorney Lisa Banks said in a statement. “The Trump-controlled Kennedy Center tried to silence opposition to its illegal name change by filing a meritless lawsuit,” Banks said.
“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.” Redd had hosted the Christmas jazz concert at the Kennedy Center for years. After Trump’s appointees to the board of trustees voted to add the president’s name to the center, however, Redd announced he wouldn’t perform. The center then sued him. A judge dismissed the case in June, finding the Kennedy Center was unlikely to win and had retaliated against Redd for exercising his right to public advocacy. The center later eventually removed Trump’s name from the building after losing a separate court fight.
DC Superior Court Judge Tanya Jones Bosier found that Redd was entitled to recoup legal fees as the “prevailing party.” She rejected the center’s objections to the fee request as “out of all proportion to the issue at stake” and found that Redd’s lawyers had largely asked for “reasonable” compensation for their work. The case is John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts v. Redd, 2026-CAB-1457, District of Columbia Superior Court. ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
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