A Kennedy Center official told a federal judge on Saturday that he has removed all references to President Donald Trump inside, outside and online at the Kennedy Center, in compliance with an extended court order requiring him to do so by noon today.
Construction workers began removing Trump’s name from the front of the Kennedy Center building early Saturday morning, six months after the president-elect’s board voted to rename the iconic performing arts venue by adding his name to it.
Crews removed letters added to the building in December that had inserted Trump’s name before “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” – the original signage that had been in place since construction began in 1964.
Several dozen attendees gathered and cheered on activists who prepared to remove the president’s name from the building.
A federal judge ruled last month that Trump’s name must be removed by June 12, stating that the centre’s board does not have the authority to unilaterally rename the building.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” US District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote on May 29.
Late Friday night, the Justice Department sought a 12-hour delay to clarify compliance with the court order, citing the storm as the reason for the delay.
“The removal is currently ongoing, and the defendants expect to complete it in the early morning hours of June 13, 2026,” DOJ lawyers wrote.
Trump first expressed the possibility of adding his name to the Kennedy Center. a true social post last August.
In a final attempt to block the judge’s order, the Kennedy Center sought to do so late Thursday. The judge denied that request on Friday, hours before the deadline to remove Trump’s name.
In a petition filed with a federal appeals court seeking to block the judge’s order, the centre argued for the first time that removing Trump’s name from the building would require returning millions of dollars the centre has raised for renovations due to a previously undisclosed change in the centre’s bylaws.
“All of this money, hundreds of millions of dollars, must be returned immediately, or the Center will not receive it,” the filing said.
“This clause exists because people and companies who have given or will give millions of dollars to the centre were only willing to do so with the ‘Trump’ name on the building,” the filing said.
It does not mention how, when or where the changes were made in the bylaws of the Centre. The Kennedy Center did not respond to enquiries about when it made the changes and exactly how much money might be at risk.
The appeal court denied the Kennedy Center’s request for a pause on Friday night.
The attorneys for Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who is the ex officio board member and brought the suit, argued in a filing to the appeals court that the centre’s claim was “meritless” because the funding question was never raised in the lower court. On Saturday morning, Beatty called Trump’s removal a “victory,” saying, “Today’s victory is the beginning of returning the Kennedy Center to the American people. The rule of law prevails, and that’s worth celebrating. Let this ruling send a message to the entire country: When we stand up, fight back, and defend our democracy, we can win. This is just the beginning.”
Lawyers for the Kennedy Center instructed staff last week to remove Trump’s name from all official signage at the building to comply with the judge’s May 29 order. Trump’s name was no longer visible on the centre’s website until Monday, when the site reverted to its former “Kennedy Center” branding.
The May decision also halted a plan to close the centre for two years, which Trump’s board had sought to renew. The judge called those plans an “ill-informed and seemingly premeditated decision”.
