Kennedy Center president rebukes performer who called off Christmas Eve show over addition of Trump’s name

(CNN) — Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell lambasted a performer’s decision to cancel an annual Christmas Eve jazz concert, following the addition of President Donald Trump’s name to the Washington, DC, arts venue.

In a letter, which the Kennedy Center shared a copy of with CNN, Grenell sharply criticizes jazz artist Chuck Redd’s actions and praises Trump for his leadership as the center’s chairman — a role the president’s handpicked board elected him to early in his second term after he ousted his predecessor.

“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,” Grenell, a longtime Trump confidant, wrote to Redd on letterhead bearing the new “Trump Kennedy Center” logo.

The Associated Press first reported on the letter.

Redd told CNN on Wednesday that he canceled the holiday jazz concert, which he has hosted for nearly two decades, after seeing the board’s move to rename the building last week.

“I’ve been performing at the Kennedy Center since the beginning of my career and I was saddened to see this name change,” Redd said.

Grenell goes on to fault Redd for financial fallout relating to what he called a “political stunt” and said the center will seek $1 million in damages.

CNN has reached out to Redd for comment on the letter.

Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center, echoed Grenell’s sentiment, arguing that Redd “failed to meet the basic duty of a public artist: to perform for all people.”

“Art is a shared cultural experience meant to unite, not exclude,” Daravi said in a statement to CNN. “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.”

The cancelation of the free “Jazz Jam” show followed a vote by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’s board of trustees to rename the cultural institution for both the Democratic former president and Trump last week.

In the hours after the vote, the center updated its website and the following day installed new signage to the facade of the building bearing Trump’s name.

The move quickly sparked outrage from Kennedy family, lawmakers and patrons of the historic center, including a lawsuit from one Democratic congresswoman challenging whether the board has the authority to rename the facility, which Congress designated in 1964 as a memorial to the 35th president.

Prior to the renaming, Trump’s overhaul of the center was already raising concerns about lost revenue as both artists and audiences flee for other venues. Artists including Issa Rae, Renée Fleming, Shonda Rhimes and Ben Folds resigned from their leadership roles or canceled events at the space. And Jeffrey Seller, producer of the hit musical “Hamilton,” canceled the show’s planned run earlier this year.

This holiday season, lagging ticket sales have also impacted “The Nutcracker,” historically one of the center’s most popular events. Approximately 10,000 seats were sold for this year’s production across seven performances, compared with around 15,000 seats each in the 2021 through 2024 performances, according to internal sales data reviewed by CNN.

The Kennedy Center comped approximately five times more tickets for the performances this year than in the past four years, the data showed. And this year’s show has fallen about half a million dollars short of its $1.5 million budgeted revenue goal.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.