Trump Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell is suing jazz musician Chuck Redd for $1 million after Redd abruptly canceled this year’s annual “Christmas Eve Jazz Jam” in protest of the Center’s new name honoring President Donald J. Trump.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) filed a lawsuit against President Trump and the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees after it renamed the site as the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted unanimously to rename the center, incorporating President Trump's name.
Speaking from the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced the honorees for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors and confirmed he will personally host the event. Trump said he initially declined the invitation, joking, “Are you fools asking me to do that? I’m President of the United States. I won’t do it.” He ultimately agreed after a request from White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, saying, “Okay Susie, I’ll do it. That’s the power she’s got.”
House Republicans advanced a measure on July 22, 2025, to rename the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.”
