Kennedy Center president demands $1m from musician who canceled Christmas Eve show

Drummer Chuck Redd decided to cancel his yearly Jazz Jam after Donald Trump added his name to the venue

The president of the Kennedy Center has demanded $1m in damages and fiercely criticized a musician's sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that Donald Trump's name would be added to the facility.

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," the venue's president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with the Associated Press.