image source, Getty Images
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- Author, BBC News World Editorial Team
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Reading time: 4 minutes
The historic John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washginton, DC, has had the name Donald Trump on its facade since Friday.
The president’s name was added a day after the center’s board voted to rename the facility the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Workers on Friday affixed Trump’s name to the building above the center’s original name.
Already on Thursday, the center’s website was updated to indicate that it is now “The Trump-Kennedy Center.”
The measure has sparked controversy and criticism from some members of the family of the late President Kennedy, after whom this center, an icon of cultural life in Washington for decades, was originally named.
“Our president, President Donald J. Trump, not only saved this historic building, but also created a truly nonpartisan place to celebrate the arts,” the center said in a statement Friday.
Trump effectively took control of the historic Kennedy Center in February when he removed all members of the previous board and appointed a new board made up of loyalists who elected him president.
The board voted in favor of the new name Thursday, but some members complained that they were not allowed to speak or vote.
Controversial vote
image source, Heather Diehl/Getty
Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday that he was “surprised” and “honored” by the decision, although he appeared to joke about the possibility of changing the center’s name during an event there several days earlier.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the board voted “unanimously” for the name change because “President Trump has done an incredible job over the last year to save the building.”
However, Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex-officio board member, disputed Leavitt’s claim.
“When I tried to push my button to express my concern, ask questions, let alone vote for it, I was silenced,” Beatty said in a post on
Other board members also claimed they were silenced during the vote and would have voted against the name change if they had been allowed to.
Several members of Congress have claimed that the law that created the center in the 1960s says it cannot be renamed. It also states that “no additional monuments or plaques of a commemorative nature may be designated or installed in the public areas” of the center.
Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said in a social media post that work on the building “must stop as it is illegal to make changes outside of Congress.”
For his part, Republican Rep. Robert Onder of Missouri proposed a bill in July to change the name of the Kennedy Center.
Outrage in the Kennedy family
image source, Getty Images
Members of the Kennedy family expressed outrage at the name change.
“It is incomprehensible that this sitting president would seek to rename this great monument dedicated to President Kennedy,” said Maria Shriver, the late president’s niece. “It’s beyond crazy that he thinks it’s acceptable to put his name before President Kennedy’s.”
Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg suggested that the name change was due to his decision to run for a seat in the New York House of Representatives.
He said on social media that “Trump is explicitly motivated to act” to stop his candidacy. “Our campaign represents everything Trump cannot endure or defeat.”
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