The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has reportedly ordered staff to remove Trump’s name from the building, its website, brochures, signs, and promotional materials after a federal judge ruled that neither Trump nor his handpicked board had the legal authority to rename the iconic arts center after him.
According to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post, Kennedy Center employees were instructed to scrub Trump’s name from all references by June 12.
The move comes just days after a federal judge delivered a stinging setback to Trump’s efforts to transform the Kennedy Center into a monument to himself. The court ruled that only Congress—not Trump and not the board he installed—has the authority to rename the institution, which was established as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy.
The judge made it cleat that Trump never had the power to do it in the first place.
The legal fight stems from Trump’s sweeping takeover of the Kennedy Center after returning to office. Last year, he removed members of the board and replaced them with loyalists, who promptly elected him chairman. Soon afterward, the board voted to rename the institution the “Donald J. Trump John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center,” a move critics blasted as a blatant exercise in political vanity.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the board, challenged the move in court, arguing that Trump had exceeded his authority. The judge agreed.
The ruling is the latest blow to Trump’s increasingly controversial effort to remake Washington’s cultural institutions in his own image.
Since returning to power, Trump has attached his name to an astonishing range of government initiatives, programs, buildings, and projects. Critics have accused him of treating public institutions less like national assets and more like branding opportunities.
But the Kennedy Center has proven to be one of his biggest headaches.
After Trump’s takeover, a wave of artists and performers distanced themselves from the institution. High-profile cancellations followed, including productions, musicians, comedians, and cultural organizations unwilling to be associated with what many viewed as a political purge.
The backlash quickly spilled into the box office.
By last fall, reports indicated that ticket sales had fallen sharply, with thousands of seats sitting empty at major performances. What was once one of America’s premier cultural venues suddenly found itself at the center of a political controversy that many patrons wanted no part of.
Trump’s ambitions didn’t stop with renaming the center. Earlier this year, he announced plans to shut it down for a two-year renovation project. That effort was also blocked in court.
Now, with the judge’s ruling standing and the Kennedy Center reportedly racing to erase references to Trump before the June deadline, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: Trump’s attempt to turn the nation’s most famous performing arts center into a personal monument is facing a reality check.
And this time, even the signs are coming down.
