D.C. Judge Dismisses Kennedy Center Breach-of-Contract Suit Against Chuck Redd After He Canceled Long-Running Christmas Eve Show
Superior Court Judge Tanya Jones Bosier ruled Friday that no signed contract existed. The case was dismissed with prejudice under the District’s Anti-SLAPP statute.
variety.comC. Superior Court Judge Tanya Jones Bosier dismissed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against jazz musician Chuck Redd on Friday, June 6, 2026. The judge ruled that Kennedy Center officials had not shown a legally binding agreement because Redd never signed the 2025 performance contract.
The dismissal was granted under the District of Columbia’s Anti-SLAPP law, which protects against lawsuits filed to silence public participation on matters of public interest, and the case was dismissed with prejudice. The Kennedy Center filed the suit in March 2026 after Redd canceled his scheduled Christmas Eve 2025 performance.
Redd had led the center’s annual free Christmas Eve Jazz Jam since 2006.
He canceled the 2025 performance shortly after the White House announced that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility. The center offered to settle if Redd paid $7,500, performed at this year’s concert, and refrained from issuing political commentary about his withdrawal. Richard Grenell, then the center’s president, threatened to sue Redd and seek $1 million in damages.
The Kennedy Center’s Trump-appointed board had voted to place President Trump’s name on the venue. A different judge last week ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the facade and website. That judge ruled that the center, designated by Congress as a living memorial to the late President John F.
Kennedy, cannot be renamed without an act of Congress. The motion to dismiss, filed in March 2026, included the unsigned 2025 contract provided by the Kennedy Center. Redd, a jazz drummer and vibraphone player who has toured with Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Brown, told the Associated Press he is “very pleased” by the ruling.
Representatives for the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A federal judge sided with Redd in the naming dispute, according to The New York Times.
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