The Kennedy Center has removed Donald Trump’s name from its website after a US district judge ordered the president’s name to be taken down from the performing arts venue.
The removal, which took place on Monday, comes just days before a deadline set by the centre’s general counsel to eliminate all references to the president by 12 June 2026. A memo reported by the Washington Post instructed employees to change email signatures, letterheads, and other documents to reflect the name ‘The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ or simply ‘Kennedy Center’.
Judge Christopher Cooper’s ruling stated that the venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress. In his 94-page opinion, Cooper wrote: “The Kennedy Center’s 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’s unilateral say-so.”
Despite the website changes, the front of the Washington DC venue still reads: “The Donald J Trump and The John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” as of Monday afternoon. Cooper also temporarily blocked a planned $257m ‘revitalisation project’ that would have closed the centre for two years, a decision prompted by Trump’s handpicked board.
Trump criticised the judge on social media last month, stating: “I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND.’”
