A federal judge ruled on May 29 that adding Trump’s name to the center was illegal, and ordered the center to be stripped from official materials and removed from billboards.
Attendees react to name removal from President Trump’s complaint at Kennedy Center
Visitors react to a judge’s ruling to remove President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, prompting the government to appeal.
WASHINGTON – Workers stripped President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center on June 13, less than six months after the building was erected, following a judge’s ruling that a performing arts landmark cannot be renamed without an act of Congress, Reuters reports.
The work began around 1:20 a.m., hours after the Justice Department announced the government would miss a court-ordered deadline of 11:59 p.m. on June 12 to remove Trump’s name from the Washington venue set up to commemorate the assassinated president half a century ago.
Construction workers first showed up at the iconic arts facility on the afternoon of June 12, erected scaffolding, and hours later began preparing to remove the president’s name from the building’s façade sign, letter by letter.
Hundreds of onlookers cheered and sang “God Bless America” as the workers wore fluorescent yellow vests, bungee straps and helmets prepared to exclude Trump’s name. Many in the crowd were dressed to look like they were performing at the stately Washington, D.C., venue. Onlookers chatted festively amid thunderstorms that threatened to delay work. Passersby honked their car horns in approval.
Local resident Carolina Clarence came to watch the game with her dog Rufino. A former kindergarten teacher said it was “ridiculous” that Trump’s name was included.
“We can see this situation unraveling,” Clarence said, adding that artists canceling shows and donations dwindle, damaging the institution that famously bears Trump’s name on the building. “They’re going to destroy the Kennedy Center.”
Workers arrived at the site shortly after a three-judge appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s request for a moratorium on Friday night, which is appealing a judge’s decision to remove Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center’s name.
The crew began receiving letters after midnight. On a crisp Washington, D.C. night, hundreds of protesters looked on, chanting “Get rid of it!” The effort to remove the letters began around 3 a.m., The Washington Post reported.
In a May 29 ruling, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that adding Trump’s name to the center was illegal and ordered the center to be stripped from official documents and removed from signage within 14 days, ending June 12.
Cooper denied the Justice Department’s request for a stay, saying the defendants had failed to prove that their appeal would be successful and that complying with the order would cause “irreparable harm” to the Kennedy Center.
The Trump administration then filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals to intervene to suspend the order just before 7 p.m. ET as the year-end deadline approaches, but the panel denied the request. But the request was quickly rejected by a judge, paving the way for the president’s name to be removed from the building as a crowd of onlookers watched workers go about their work. Even after midnight on June 13, workers were still erecting the scaffolding needed to remove the letters.
Despite intermittent thunder and lightning, crowds gathered around the building to watch the spectacle, some wearing flashy clothes in a festive mood.
Earlier this week, Kennedy Center lawyers advised staff to comply with the judge’s order. Trump’s name was quickly removed from the center’s website and from staff email signatures. But the center waited until a judge granted a last-minute request to stay the order before removing the most visible display of President Trump’s attempted takeover of the center: a large, all-caps sign outside the building’s marble facade that reads “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Performing Arts Center.”
The building has returned to its title, “John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” which has been featured on the building since the center opened in 1971.
The removal of the president’s name from the center is a striking blow to President Trump’s efforts to remake the center in his favor.
The Kennedy Center voted in December 2025 to rename the venue after Trump, in recognition of his role in securing federal funding critical to the center’s transformation. His name was added to the building’s exterior sign less than 24 hours later.
Cooper, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, ruled that the Kennedy Center’s board of directors, made up mostly of Trump supporters, violated a 1964 federal law that established the center to honor the late President John F. Kennedy when it voted to rename the center after Trump. The justices said the statute makes clear that “the Kennedy Center must be named after and honor only President Kennedy.”
The judge’s order came in a lawsuit filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), ex-officio director of the Kennedy Center, who sued to block President Trump’s rebranding and to shut it down for two years for renovations.
In his ruling, Cooper also overturned President Trump’s plan to close the Kennedy Center for two years starting in July in preparation for major renovations to the building.
The closure was approved by the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees in a March vote. In a 94-page opinion, Cooper questioned the reliability of the center’s executive director, Matt Floca,’s conclusion that renovations cannot be made without shutting down public facilities.
The judge also said the center’s board had “no meaningful say” on the issue when it voted to close on March 16. President Trump had already announced his closure plans on Truth Social on February 1st.
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
