{"id":39541,"date":"2026-08-11T23:31:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T18:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39541"},"modified":"2026-08-11T23:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T18:31:26","slug":"judge-finds-kennedy-center-owes-musician-250000-in-legal-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39541","title":{"rendered":"Judge finds Kennedy Center owes musician $250,000 in legal fees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-ed220a\" class=\"body-graf\">A federal judge in Washington, D.C. ordered the Kennedy Center to pay $250,000 in legal fees to musician <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/trump-administration\/kennedy-center-chuck-redd-christmas-eve-concert-trump-name-added-rcna251085\" target=\"_blank\">Chuck Redd<\/a>, whom the arts center sued for cancelling a Christmas Eve concert after President Donald Trump\u2019s name was added to the building\u2019s facade.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-afd029\" class=\"body-graf\">D.C. Superior Court Judge Tanya Jones Bosier dismissed the case in June, finding conditions of unlawful retaliation against Redd.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-cc07fc\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1466\" data-original-width=\"2200\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2025-12\/251226-Chuck-Redd-aa-729-2348eb.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2025-12\/251226-Chuck-Redd-aa-729-2348eb.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2025-12\/251226-Chuck-Redd-aa-729-2348eb.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2025-12\/251226-Chuck-Redd-aa-729-2348eb.jpg 1x\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2025-12\/251226-Chuck-Redd-aa-729-2348eb.jpg\" alt=\"Chuck Redd.\" height=\"1466\" width=\"2200\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Musician Chuck Redd.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Robert Severi \/ Courtesy Chuck Redd<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-7b7914\" class=\"body-graf\">In an order Monday, Bosier said she made a \u201cgood faith evaluation of records to exclude hours that are arguably duplicative, excessive, or unnecessary,\u201d and found that the Kennedy Center owes Redd $252,479.70 for the legal fees he has accrued, to be paid within the next 45 days.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-23c298\" class=\"body-graf\">A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the organization intends to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d5c557\" class=\"body-graf\">Redd had been scheduled to host the center\u2019s annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam on Dec. 24, 2025, but backed out of the free show on Dec. 19 after Trump\u2019s name was added to the facade.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0567d0\" class=\"body-graf\">The president\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/new-photos-show-trump-name-removed-kennedy-center-facade-rcna351311\" target=\"_blank\"> name was removed <\/a>from the center in June after a board member <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/trump-administration\/judge-temporarily-halts-kennedy-center-closure-trump-name-removed-rcna347598\" target=\"_blank\">successfully argued<\/a> the addition of Trump\u2019s name was illegal.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-03c2af\" class=\"body-graf\">The Kennedy Center had accused Redd of violating its \u201cmorals clause\u201d after he went public with the reason why he\u2019d backed out, which the center described as a decision \u201cto abuse the public forum provided to him by the Center in order to make a political statement, and [] deprive the public of the concert he promised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-09fdd1\" class=\"body-graf\">The center said his cancellation \u201cincurred damages from lost goodwill with the public, wasted marketing expenses, and sunk costs preparing for a concert that did not occur.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b1d1e1\" class=\"body-graf\">The facility\u2019s then-president, Richard Grenell, had initially threatened to sue Redd for $1 million. The Kennedy Center later offered to settle with the musician for $7,500.  <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-184f21\" class=\"body-graf\">Redd countered that the concert was free and he canceled early enough for the center to find a replacement. He noted that he had not signed a contract to perform, arguing the only reason he was targeted by the center was that he had spoken out on a matter of \u201cpublic interest.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3cd1db\" class=\"body-graf\">The judge sided with Redd, noting that he was one of several artists who\u2019d been scheduled to perform at a show that was ultimately canceled anyway. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-725b69\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">The \u201cCenter did not lose any ticket sales as the concert was free, and the entire performance was canceled as a result of multiple artists canceling, so the Center did not incur costs for staff or other performers,\u201d she wrote in her June decision, also noting that Redd \u2014 the only one to have spoken out about the name change \u2014 appeared to be the only one who was sued.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge in Washington, D.C. ordered the Kennedy Center to pay $250,000 in legal fees to musician Chuck Redd, whom the arts center sued for cancelling a Christmas Eve concert after President Donald Trump\u2019s name was added to the building\u2019s facade. D.C. Superior Court Judge Tanya Jones Bosier dismissed the case in June, finding&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260811-kennedy-center-vl-101p-7be033.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}