Trump’s Name Added to Kennedy Center, Prompting Legal Challenge and Cultural Reckoning

WASHINGTON — In a swift and polarizing move that has roiled Washington’s arts community, the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted last week to rename the institution the Trump-Kennedy Center, adding President Trump’s name to the facade of the marble-clad building overlooking the Potomac River. Workers installed the new lettering on Dec. 19, just one day after the vote, transforming what Congress designated in 1964 as a living memorial to the assassinated 35th president into a dual-named landmark honoring the current one.

The decision, announced by the White House and swiftly executed, has ignited a fierce backlash. Members of the Kennedy family decried it as an affront to a national memorial, legal experts questioned its legality, and a Democratic lawmaker filed a lawsuit seeking to strip Mr. Trump’s name from the building. Supporters, including the center’s leadership, hailed it as recognition of the president’s efforts to revitalize a struggling institution through federal funding and administrative overhaul.

The controversy underscores the deepening politicization of cultural institutions under Mr. Trump’s second term. Since taking office in January 2025, the president has exerted unprecedented influence over the Kennedy Center, appointing himself chairman of its board after purging holdovers from prior administrations and installing loyalists. He secured $257 million in congressional funds for repairs and maintenance, touting the investment as saving a “crumbling” venue plagued by deferred upkeep.

Yet critics argue that the renaming crosses a constitutional line. Federal law explicitly names the center after John F. Kennedy, and experts like Georgetown Law professor David Super have asserted that only Congress can alter it. “I suppose he could rename some parts of the building,” Mr. Super told reporters earlier this year, “but he cannot rename the building itself.”

The board’s vote took place not in Washington but at the Palm Beach home of casino magnate Steve Wynn, whose wife, Andrea, serves on the board. Attendees included Richard Grenell, the Trump-appointed president of the center; singer Lee Greenwood, who performed “God Bless the USA”; and Sergio Gor, a longtime Trump aide. Mr. Gor proposed the name change, according to accounts from the meeting.

Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio and an ex-officio board member, described the proceedings as scripted. In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Ms. Beatty accused the board of muting her during the virtual portion of the meeting and alleged the vote violated federal statute. “In scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic,” the complaint reads, “the sitting president and his handpicked loyalists renamed this storied center after President Trump.”

Ms. Beatty seeks a court order declaring the renaming unlawful and requiring the removal of Mr. Trump’s name from signage, the website and branding. The White House dismissed the suit, with a spokesperson stating that Mr. Trump had “stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center by strengthening its finances, modernizing the building, and ending divisive woke programming.”

Kennedy family members reacted with outrage. Maria Shriver, a niece of the late president, called the move “insane” in earlier comments on similar proposals. Joseph Kennedy III, a grandnephew, equated the center to the Lincoln Memorial, saying it “can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial.” Jack Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy’s grandson, questioned the vote’s unanimity on social media.

Behind the scenes, the renaming has exacerbated tensions over the center’s direction. Ticket sales have reportedly plummeted, with analyses showing up to 43 percent of seats unsold in recent months. Prominent artists have distanced themselves, and donors — traditionally a bipartisan mix of philanthropists — have grown wary. One major contributor, ousted board chairman David M. Rubenstein, had been the center’s largest benefactor before Mr. Trump’s interventions.

Insiders say phones buzzed incessantly in the days following the announcement as staff managed fallout and donors reassessed commitments. Some longtime patrons expressed privately that the overt branding risked alienating audiences, while others praised the administration for injecting energy into programming, including the recent Kennedy Center Honors, which Mr. Trump hosted for the first time.

The episode reflects broader debates over legacy and power in Washington’s cultural sphere. Built as a nonpartisan tribute to Kennedy’s vision for the arts, the center has long symbolized national unity. Now, with Mr. Trump’s name prominently affixed above Kennedy’s, it has become a flashpoint in the nation’s enduring culture wars.

As the lawsuit proceeds and Congress remains silent on any formal renaming legislation — despite earlier Republican proposals that went nowhere — the institution finds itself at a crossroads. Supporters envision a rejuvenated “Golden Age” of arts under new leadership; detractors fear irreversible damage to its apolitical heritage.

For now, the glittering halls of the renamed Trump-Kennedy Center continue to host performances, but the drama unfolding offstage shows no signs of abating.