Last December the Kennedy Center saw a second rash of cancelled performances after a second name was illegally added to the name of The Kennedy Center.
One of those cancellations was Chuck Redd who for many years performed “Jazz Jams” during the holiday season and cancelled his Christmas Eve show in protest to the new name added to the outside of the Kennedy Center.
The Kennedy Center sued Redd for breech of contract.
That suit has been dismissed under the Anti-SLAPP laws that are “designed to prevent meritless lawsuits intended to silence opposing points of view on matters of public interest.”
Redd said that he is “very pleased with the judge’s ruling.”
A veteran musician, Redd has shared the stage with numerous artists including Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Brown plays drums and vibraphone.
One of Redd’s attorneys – Lisa J Banks spoke on the suit via statement saying, “The Center sued Mr. Redd because he publicly and rightly objected to adding Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, a living memorial to former President John F. Kennedy. The lawsuit against Mr. Redd was political retribution, pure and simple, by the Trump Kennedy Center, and the Court correctly saw it as such in dismissing the case with prejudice.”
In the ruling the court argued, “Redd wasn’t contractually obligated to perform. It included the contract provided by the Kennedy Center, which the artist never signed.”