Kennedy Center seeks $1 million from musician who canceled after Trump’s name was added to venue

The director of Washington DC’s Kennedy Center has sought $1 million in damages from a musician who canceled a concert after US President Donald Trump’s name was added to the venue.

Chuck Redd has canceled his Christmas Eve performance, which he has held every year since 2006, citing a board vote to rename the venue Trump Kennedy Center.

The center’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter that the cancellation was a “political stunt” and “cost us considerably.” Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shortly after taking office, Trump fired several board members and replaced them with allies, who then voted for Trump to be chairman of the board.

Grenell wrote in his letter to Redd that his no-show was “classic and very costly intolerance for a nonprofit arts institution.”

He added: “Your dismal ticket sales and lack of donor support, combined with your last minute cancellation have cost us greatly.

“This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt.”

Last week, the White House announced that the center’s board of directors had voted unanimously to rename the cultural institution the Donald J Trump and John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

A day later, crews could be seen carving the president’s name on the building’s facade. Its website and some social media accounts have also been renamed.

The White House said the renaming effort was an acknowledgment of Trump’s actions to renovate the building, but the move was criticized by Democrats, several artists and members of the Kennedy family.

“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website, and then a few hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player, told the Associated Press news agency earlier this week.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, recently filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Trump’s name from the center.

She argued in her lawsuit that because the center was named in a 1964 law, the name change should require “an act of Congress.”

The lawsuit says Beatty called the meeting about the name change but remained silent when she tried to voice her opposition. She is one of several lawmakers designated as board members by U.S. law.

Work on a national performing arts center began in the 1950s, and after the assassination of Kennedy, the 35th president, in 1963, Congress decided to make it a living memorial to him.