Kennedy Center renaming & concert cancellation

...the venue would be DC Superior, which operates under DC SLAPP law. So unless the KC can come up with an answer why they are suing Chuck (no financial injury) and not Hamilton or Legally Blonde (yes financial injury), I believe they will be staring right down the barrel of sanctions.

Yeah, you can forget all of that. After I posted this I had a call with one of my contacts at the theatre and in addition to being free admission, the musicians were unpaid volunteers. So no, the CBA doesn't cover and the local AFM would not be a party to any litigation. That said...

It also has nothing to due with any Presidential duties.Has nothing to do with the White House agenda.trump vandalized the Kennedy Center and should be held accountable and charged.No immunity this time it is not presidential dues or for the safety of our Nation. Just wanting attention.Self serving

Trump's the one who broke any contract with the Kennedy Center by putting his name on it with no oversight with trump loyalists on the board and no congressional approval.

Next season at The Trump and The Kennedy Center, the Music MAGA Man!

Don't destroy the Kennedy Center because of this imp. Take his name off carefully then throw the sh*t in a bond fire and dance naked around it. Point will still be made while protecting the monument with respect.

While I know this WH is immune to “pot calling kettle black” accusations, it’s still funny to hear them accuse anyone of pulling a “political stunt” when everything it’s done related to the Kennedy Center has been political (and with the name change, possibly illegal.)

Well, hard to sue when artists signed a contract to preform at a place that no longer exists.

But it hasn't been used. Going to it was a bit disappointing.

Yes, a change in control / successor clause would be standard. A morality clause would also probably be pretty standard. Though usually applicable to the performer, I wonder if a clever lawyer could leverage that against the "Trump" center to allow a cancellation.

Just makes me so sick to my stomach 🤢 his name and face is all over DC now. Banners are all over the mall with his ugly ass mug shot.

It is bananas that the Kennedy center is even having issues with that. What is wrong with people. Trump is wrong in so many ways. 🤬

The Trump Hudson River. The Trump 9/11 Memorial Park. You getting the hint, the idea? Especially the 9/11 memorial. That's a federal deal so he could literally have people removed and put some of his people on the board of directors and change the name? Just like Kennedy Center

Seems like a good time for all performers to back out of their gigs there and for no one to perform there again ever, until Trump & his name are gone.

'In 1973, he had said that "political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."'

I don’t think any suit has yet been filed - just sputtering threats on Twitter. But it was free concert at noon on Xmas Eve on Millenium Stage, which I believe is a small performance space just inside foyer designed for free, open-seating arts programming. So will be curious to see what damages 2/

Is there an argument that it’s a fundamental rebranding rather than a simple name change? And, the rebranding is inherently political in nature, such that a performer could experience irreparable damage to his reputation by performing at the rebranded venue?

Also no agreement to perform at the “I Rape Children Kennedy Center.”

Didn’t he refuse to play at his concert if people wore masks? Or was that someone else? 🧐

😢😢😢😿😡🤬😤🤬😖😠

I fully support the artist’s decision. But have to counter your argument with: the org is the same as the one he entered the contract with (perhaps rebranded, but legally the same entity) & the name hasn’t legally changed. Yes, the Kennedy Center might hurt T’s feelings to make this point, but…

Soon Trump will be holding artists’ families with a gun to their head in the VIP box to force them to play.

There’s also the lawyerly BS that somehow cancelling a free jazz concert did more financial damage to the institution than Trump’s taking over its board and renaming it.

Oh no, whiny baby trumpling mad nobody good wants to perform in a trump brand building...

Any artist who performs at the Kennedy Center while Trump‘s name is still slapped on it like a cancer is a traitor and a Nazi sympathizer.

This will never be filed as it’s impossible to prove damages for what would have been a free concert

Any musician that plays for Trump is making a political statement and facing discredit. Like playing for the Nazis- doesn’t age well.

Holding a reluctant artist to a performance contract is close to the most stupid thing you can do.

Unless there is some cancelation clause or something, usually the sort of change in circumstances that would excuse nonperformance would be something that renders performance impracticable, like if roads into DC were shut down But it’s impossible to analyze this situation w/o any information

The funny thing is that it was a free concert for a few hundred people There are NO economic damages - none. The case is a stone cold loser.

Someone quick … get Trumparch.com and whatever else that d-bag will want to claim.

In better days for the Kennedy Center

The same people who said the baker was an artist who shouldn't be forced to make a cake that gay people might eat are now going to sue a musician for refusing to play at a venue named for someone the musician finds offensive.

Chile on there praising the Kennedy center honors

I want to scream out loud at the depths of dishonor, disrespect and lack of decency that POTUS & Board show by dishonoring the memory of President John F. Kennedy by adding current POTUS’ name to JFK’s memorial. It’s like desecrating the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington. An ugly desecration💔

I want to scream out loud at the depths of dishonor, disrespect and lack of decency that POTUS & Board show by dishonoring the memory of President John F. Kennedy by adding current POTUS’ name to JFK’s memorial. It’s like desecrating the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington. An ugly desecration💔

It is difficult to discuss a breach of contract case without having the contract. At any rate, I don’t think $1 M is a contract damage. As a tort, I don’t see this going far. In any case, we need to distinguish an empty threat done to impress Trump from a lawsuit. What did the Kennedy center file?

Not being a lawyer, seems to me that would be the basis for the defense. Legally, there is no Trump-Kennedy Center, so exactly who is he in breach with? But for future acts, save yourself the headache and perform. Poorly. Very poorly. Even tell your fans up front, "Don't come. Save your money."

It’s like a law school exam question: What are the damages here?

The artist was playing free as well. Good luck with a contract claim when the one party receives nothing at all in exchange.

The part of his pathology I haven't figured out is why he appointed the same incompetentos to high government posts who represented him in his losing lawsuits to E Jean Carroll and his 93-count felony conviction. Sabotaging federal agencies by saddling them with nincompoops is one thing but this ??

If changing the name of the Kennedy center was meaningless and makes no difference, then they won't mind if he goes ahead and performs after changing his name to Fucktrump.

They're probably going to sue you for calling it "The Kennedy Center," NaziPR

I truly hope there is a clause that allows them to cancel their shows. But I would guess the contract likely limits the reasons an artist can cancel a performance.

Didn't realize Yosemite Sam had been appointed to talent management at Kennedy Center

I am sure suing an artist will encourage more to come and perform

Perhaps Grinnel should be sued $100,000,000 million for illegally changing the name of The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Certainly the artists signed to perform there also had the legitimate expectation that they would be performing in the place they signed with.

I’m pretty sure he agreed to play at the Kennedy Center, not the Trump Kennedy Center. They broke the contract, not him.

There's a much stronger case that the Kennedy Center renaming, which purports to be official and is in direct conflict with explicit statutory requirements for how the Center is to be operated, is illegal in a way DoD adopting a stupid unofficial secondary nickname for itself isn't.

It seems that they agreed to perform there before the name change was announced?

"Look, you renamed the place the Hitler-Kennedy Center. You can't expect me to still perform there." "Trump-Kennedy, not Hitler-Kennedy." "Same diff."

I believe the threat of suit is from Trump. In other words, despite the Board, he's calling the shots. That's inconsistent with the position of those who say, "Trump had nothing to do with renaming the building; that was the decision of the (independent) Board." If he sues, there's a standing issue.

The name change is not the point. Trump fired the president of the center, fired the board, and appointed an entire new board, who then elected him president of the center, who then renamed it after himself. That's significant enough you can at least make the argument that the entity is different.

cannot wait to catch Tom MacDonald & Forgiato Blow at the Trunp Kennedy Center

Chuck Redd should go onstage and just play one note for the duration of the concert. After all, Trump detests diversity.

Isn’t there “no contract” as venue name changed, and no contract to perform at the renamed venue?

I would have thought it would be fairly easy to argue that it's now a fundamentally different organisation, with a different name, different board, different values, different purpose, and under direct political control. All contracts null and void.

The spokesperson for the Center came to that job by way of FauxNews & NewsMax. No wonder she can reel off the big dissing of Chuck Redd with such a straight face.

They might have a hard time with that, since the musician made a contract with THE KENNEDY CENTER, not the DONALD J TRUMP and KENNEDY CENTER.

Idk if that happened around the same time, by the same person, or in regards to the same situation I saw right before they stopped, but an artist got falsely labeled and lost sponsorships and brand deals because of it, and the label stayed throughout the appeal process making it seem legitimate

What about the lawsuit pending by a member of the board? Could that be used?

Right, but changing the sign can't legally change the name of the place, so that may not stand up. May be enough for a court, though. Technicalities galore.

Someone should ask the Kennedy family how they feel about scheduled performers canceling. We already know how they feel about Trump adding his name. Trump's name is an insult.

I would have pulled out too, whiney my ass. Trump is a egotistical maniac and vicious narcissist. I wouldn't perform anywhere his name was on either.

With my limited knowledge, I'd argue standing. The current group calling itself the governing body of the Kennedy center is illegally established and has no standing to sue.

How long until Trump declares artists protesting the Kennedy center to be "degenerate art" and thus illegal?

It my be fatal to the suit that T's hand-picked board is complicit in an ill-advised effort to change the name (therefore, possibly, the entity) of the center. Even if the suit is not dismissed, let's see the board, including T, deposed (I mean via court process, tho I'm for the other meaning, too).

And you know for an absolute fact that THAT contract doesn’t have a clause that covers that? And you know for a FACT that there is no case law (or provision in the Restatements of Contracts) that has covered changes of names? And you have read/understood the causes of action as written, not reported

Yes. Because there is no clause that says in case of venue name change, contract is null and void. Otherwise Redd would have cited it. For every professional contract, something as simple as a name change has no bearing on the validity of a contract.