Redd, a longtime host and performer at the Kennedy Center's Christmas Eve concerts, pulled out of the December 2025 engagement, citing "the defiant and illegal name change happening to the Kennedy Center." The institution - then temporarily operating as the Trump Kennedy Center - responded by suing him for breach of contract. The Kennedy Center had argued Redd "agreed to a written contract" to play the date for $6,500 regardless of whether he signed it. "The Trump-controlled Kennedy Center tried to silence opposition to its illegal name change by filing a meritless lawsuit against jazz musician Chuck Redd," Lisa J. On May 29, a federal judge ordered Trump's name removed from the façade of the Kennedy Center, ruling the board's move to add it was illegal.