The president of the Kennedy Center on Friday (Dec. 26) fiercely criticized a musician’s sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that President 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.

In the letter, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages “for this political stunt.”

Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A drummer and vibraphone player, Redd has presided over holiday “Jazz Jams” at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William “Keter” Betts. In an email Wednesday to The Associated Press, Redd said he pulled out of the concert in the wake of the renaming.

“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd said. He added Wednesday that the event has been a “very popular holiday tradition” and that he often featured at least one student musician.

“One of the many reasons that it was very sad to have had to cancel,” he told the AP.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him.

Grenell is a Trump ally whom the president chose to head the Kennedy Center after he forced out the previous leadership. According to the White House, Trump’s handpicked board approved the renaming, which scholars have said violates the law. Kennedy niece Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office, and former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any changes would have to be approved by Congress.

The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.

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The 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl is here and bringing with a hard-hitting match up between No. 12 BYU Cougars vs. No. 22 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. While missing their chance to make College Football Playoffs after losing in the Big 12 championship game earlier this month, the Cougars could still clinch their first 12-win season since 2001 with a victory this Saturday, Dec. 27. The Yellow Jackets, on the other hand, are fighting for their first 10-win season since 2011.

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John Farnham has made a rare public appearance, marking his first sighting in several months following treatment for oral cancer.

The Australian music icon, 76, was photographed with family over the Christmas period in images shared by his sons on social media.

One photo, posted by son Rob Farnham on Facebook, showed the singer seated at a table surrounded by family on Boxing Day, smiling alongside his wife, Jill. “Boxing Day shenanigans,” the caption read.

A second image, shared on Instagram by Farnham’s other son, James Farnham, featured a similar family gathering with the caption, “Merry Christmas from the Farnhams.”

The appearances mark Farnham’s first public glimpse since early 2025, when he attended a birthday celebration for his wife. Since then, the singer has largely remained out of the public eye following a major health battle that began in 2022, when doctors discovered a tumour in his mouth.

Farnham underwent a 12-hour surgery that required the removal of parts of his mouth and jaw, followed by eight weeks of radiation treatment. He was later declared cancer-free, though the surgery significantly affected his ability to speak and sing.

The singer addressed the impact of the operation in his 2024 memoir The Voice Inside, writing candidly about the physical and emotional toll of the procedure. “My facial disfigurement from the surgery means I can’t open my mouth wide enough for a strip of spaghetti, let alone to sing,” he wrote. “I can’t get the movement to make the sounds I want to make… It’s a very disconcerting thing. And trying hurts.”

Widely regarded as one of Australia’s most beloved performers, Farnham’s career spans more than three decades, with enduring hits including “You’re the Voice.” He remains the only Australian artist to have a No. 1 album in five consecutive decades.

This Christmas also marked a personal milestone for Farnham, who celebrated the holiday as a grandfather for the first time. His son James and partner Dr. Tessa Effendi welcomed their son, Jett, in June.

Reflecting on that chapter in his memoir, Farnham wrote that while his performing days may be behind him, music remains part of his life. “I think it is fair to say the only singing I’ll be doing is lullabies — and the only performing will be for a special audience of one; my first grandchild,” he wrote, before adding, “But you know me… never say never.”

Russell Wilson and Ciara are definitely in the giving spirit this holiday season, with the couple donating millions of dollars to the Mount Sinai Karvis Children’s Hospital to close out a year of charitable efforts through the football player’s Why Not You Foundation.

As announced Friday (Dec. 26) through a Good Morning America segment, Wilson and the singer have contributed $3 million to the medical center’s pediatric programs. The money will go toward improving the hospital’s common area — where patients are free to engage in therapeutic and creative activities as a respite from doctors and treatments — as well as the children’s holiday shop.

The donation comes as Wilson has been visiting the children’s hospital every Tuesday on his days off from practice and games with the New York Giants. “I started going to children’s hospitals, because my dad was unfortunately always in the hospital — he had diabetes — and my mom was an ER nurse,” he said in an interview with GMA.

“For me, I thought, like, ‘How can I make a difference somewhere?’” the athlete continued. “Every time I walk in a room, I’m praying for a miracle, something great to happen. And I’ve seen those miracles happen time and time again.”

The $3 million comes by way of Wilson’s Why Not You Foundation, which he founded in 2014. “My dad used to always say, ‘Son, why not you?’ It kind of became the mantra of my life,” he recalled, adding that he and Ciara decided to name the organization in honor of the phrase as “our parents both instilled that ‘Why not you?’ attitude in us.”

Six weeks prior to the Mount Sinai news, Wilson wrote on Instagram that the Why Not You Foundation had raised more than $21 million to go toward its programs championing education, children’s health and the fight against poverty. Some of the money also went to The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Ciara, who works closely with her husband’s Why Not You Foundation, also recently attended an event at St. Peter’s Church in Atlanta to pledge $2 million to programs combating food insecurity.

As for what he hopes to see his donation accomplish, Wilson told GMA, “I want [the kids] to be inspired, and I want them to take their mind a little bit off of the pain they’re going through.”

“It’s probably been the greatest thing I’ve been able to do in my career so far,” he added of helping young hospital patients. “It’s better than any touchdown or any trophy.”

Learn more about Wilson and Ciara’s donation to Mount Sinai Karvis below.