Kennedy Center Board Votes to Rename Washington D.C. Landmark After President Trump

The board of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., voted to rename the cultural institution the Trump-Kennedy Center, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X on Thursday (Dec. 18). The formal name would be the Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

“I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center, some of the most successful people from all parts of the world, have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,” she wrote.

“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur,” Leavitt added.

In remarks to reporters later Thursday at the White House, Trump said he was “surprised” and “honored” by the board’s vote to change the center’s name.

“This was brought up by one of the very distinguished board members, and they voted on it, and there’s a lot of board members, and they voted unanimously. So I was very honored,” he added.

Shortly after Leavitt wrote her post, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex-officio member of the board, disputed Leavitt’s account that the vote was “unanimous.”

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Beatty said that the question of renaming the Kennedy Center was not on the agenda provided to board members before Thursday’s meeting and she was surprised when it came up.

“I said, ‘I have something to say,’ and I was muted, and as I continued to try to unmute to ask questions and voiced my opposition to this, I received a note saying that I would not be unmuted,” the congresswoman told reporters.

Jack Schlossberg, grandson of the late President John F. Kennedy, picked up on that point, writing on X: “Microphones were muted and the board meeting and vote NOT unanimous I’m told Trump explicitly motivated to act by JACK FOR NEW YORK Our campaign represents everything Trump can’t stand or defeat.”

Schlossberg, the son of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, is running to be the Democratic candidate in New York’s 12th congressional district in the 2026 U.S. House of Representatives election.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries also denounced the decision, telling reporters that the name change was not legal.

Efforts to rename the Kennedy Center could face legal hurdles. The original laws that guided the creation of the Kennedy Center specifically prohibited the renaming of the building. It would take an act of Congress to change that now.

President Trump largely ignored the Kennedy Center during his first term in office (2017-21), becoming the first president since the Kennedy Center Honors launched in 1978 to go a full term without once attending the gala. But since the start of his second term in January, the president has sought to reshape the Kennedy Center and its programming.

In February, he abruptly fired members of the center’s board and installed himself as chair, writing in a post on Truth Social at the time, “At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN.”

Weeks later, the newly installed members of the Kennedy Center board, handpicked by Trump, officially elected Trump as board chair.

Trump had a big say in naming this year’s Kennedy Center Honorees: George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, KISS, Michael Crawford and Sylvester Stallone. He personally announced the honorees, something past presidents have not done, and explained his role in the process. He said he was presented a list of about 50 candidates and rejected most on the grounds that they were “too woke.” These five met with his approval.

Trump hosted this year’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony on Dec. 7, becoming the first U.S. president – sitting or otherwise – to host the show.

Trump has referred to the cultural institution as the “Trump/Kennedy Center,” writing in a post on Truth Social in August, “GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER.” He played it off as if he was making a joke.

Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, condemned the change, writing on X, “President Trump and his administration have spent the past year repressing free expression, targeting artists, journalists, and comedians, and erasing the history of Americans whose contributions made our nation better and more just.”

She added, “President Kennedy proudly stood for justice, peace, equality, dignity, diversity, and compassion for those who suffer. President Trump stands in opposition to these values, and his name should not be placed alongside President Kennedy’s.”

Former Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, a grandnephew of the former president, also spoke out against the name change, saying in a statement, “The 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.”

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened on Sept. 8, 1971, nearly eight years after President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. In 1968, George London became the Kennedy Center’s first executive director. In 1991, Lawrence Wilker assumed the newly created position of president. In 2014, Deborah Rutter became its third president. On Feb. 10, Trump named Richard Grenell to serve as interim executive director.

Celebrities who have disassociated themselves from the Kennedy Center this year include Rhiannon Giddens, Issa Rae, Renée Fleming, Shonda Rhimes and Ben Folds. The landmark musical Hamilton and play Eureka Day soon cancelled performances at the center.