Ric Grenell: Trump Kennedy Center Filing $1M Lawsuit Against Musician Who Canceled Christmas Show as Political Protest

Trump Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell is filing a lawsuit against a jazz musician who abruptly canceled this year’s annual “Christmas Eve Jazz Jam” due to Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images Musician Chuck Redd, this year’s host of the annual Christmas Eve concert, canceled the event following the Center’s board voting unanimously to rename the institution, “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” “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 Wednesday, hours before the event was scheduled to take place. Grenell, who has worked assiduously to restore the struggling institution, is not taking the politically motivated cancellation lying down. “Your dismal ticket sales and lack of donor support, combined with your last-minute cancellation has cost us considerably,” Grenell wrote Friday in a letter to Redd obtained by Breitbart News. “This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt.” Grenell hammed the artist for hurting an institution created to promote the arts throughout the nation, not to serve as an insulated haven for liberal elites. “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,” he wrote. “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.” Roma Daravi, Trump Kennedy Center Vice President of Public Relations, echoed Grenell, hammering Redd for elevating petty political grievances above art. “Any artist cancelling their show at the Trump Kennedy Center over political differences isn’t courageous or principled - they are selfish, intolerant, and have failed to meet the basic duty of a public artist: to perform for all people,” Daravi said in a statement. “Art is a shared cultural experience meant to unite, not exclude. The Trump Kennedy Center is a true bipartisan institution that welcomes artists and patrons from all backgrounds - great art transcends politics, and America’s cultural center remains committed to presenting popular programming that inspires and resonates with all audiences.” Grenell’s letter highlighted the lack of enthusiasm for Redd’s show, noting that “attendance for your Jazz Jam had been lagging considerably behind our other Christmas and holiday offerings, which have drawn strong crowds and enthusiastic response,” adding “the most avant-garde and well-regarded performers in your genre will still perform regularly, and unlike you, they’ll do it to sold out crowds regardless of their political leanings.” The Center has long been a sanctuary for the ultra-liberal to gather and worship Democratic Party causes and radical social initiatives like DEI and the transgender agenda. Prior leadership of the Trump Kennedy Center displayed a pattern of booking artists...

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