{"id":611102,"date":"2026-05-29T22:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611102\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T22:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:43:11","slug":"us-judge-orders-removal-of-trumps-name-from-kennedy-center-washington-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611102\/","title":{"rendered":"US judge orders removal of Trump’s name from Kennedy Center | Washington DC"},"content":{"rendered":"

A judge on Friday ordered the removal of Donald Trump\u2019s name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ruling that the prestigious Washington DC<\/a> venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.<\/p>\n

US district judge Christopher Cooper in Washington directed the Trump administration<\/a> to take down all physical signage bearing Trump\u2019s name and to eliminate any references to a \u201cTrump Kennedy Center\u201d from official materials within 14 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kennedy Center\u2019s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board\u2019s unilateral say-so,\u201d Cooper wrote. \u201cCongress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge added: \u201cThe Court has concluded that the Board overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming the Kennedy Center after President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper ruled in a lawsuit brought by Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democratic US representative, a member of the Kennedy Center\u2019s board by virtue of her position in Congress.<\/p>\n

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Shortly after taking office last year, Trump sparked controversy when he appointed himself chair<\/a> of the Kennedy Center\u2019s board of trustees in February, calling it a \u201ctake-over\u201d<\/a>. He purged the board and replaced them with his own appointees.<\/p>\n

The board of the Kennedy Center then voted in favor<\/a> of the proposal to add Trump\u2019s name in December, culminating an aggressive effort of his administration to remake Washington\u2019s arts and culture institutions to his liking.<\/p>\n

John F Kennedy\u2019s grandnephew Joe Kennedy III, a former congressman for Massachusetts, said at the time that he doubted the center\u2019s name could legally be changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law. It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says,\u201d Kennedy III wrote on X<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n

The move also led to a wave of artists and performing groups canceling bookings in protest, including a run of the Tony award-winning musical Hamilton. The executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Jean Davidson, left<\/a> to head the Los Angeles-based Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. And in March, Richard Grenell, a Trump appointee, who played a key role in the push to overhaul the institution and target \u201cwoke\u201d culture, announced he was stepping down<\/a> as president.<\/p>\n

The center, which receives federal funding, is one of America\u2019s leading arts venues with a huge cultural profile in America\u2019s capital and has long enjoyed bipartisan support. But under Trump it has become an extension of the White House\u2019s cultural agenda.<\/p>\n

Trump persuaded Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, to hold the World Cup draw there in December. Trump hosted<\/a> the Kennedy Center Honors there himself, addressed House Republicans and also premiered the documentary about the first lady, Melania Trump, there in January.<\/p>\n

It will now be closed for two years<\/a> after the board of trustees unanimously voted in March in favor of Trump\u2019s controversial plan to temporarily shutter the institution for renovations. In a statement, the center said it had voted for \u201ca comprehensive revitalization project\u201d lasting two years that would come after an Independence Day celebration in July, with \u201ca grand reopening to follow\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s other grand plans for the nation\u2019s capital include a vast \u201cVictory arch\u201d near the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington national cemetery, and a 100,000 sq ft ballroom<\/a> at the site of the demolished East Wing of the White House.<\/p>\n

Those efforts also face court challenges. A federal appeals court has allowed the Trump administration to move ahead<\/a> with construction of the ballroom as it considers the case, though some of its federal funding is now in jeopardy<\/a> following a Senate Republican rebellion.<\/p>\n

Last year House Republicans also proposed changing the name of the Kennedy Center\u2019s Opera House to the \u201cFirst Lady Melania Trump Opera House\u201d. It has also ordered a review of the Smithsonian Institution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge on Friday ordered the removal of Donald Trump\u2019s name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-611102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}