A board handpicked by President Donald Trump has voted to rename Washington’s prominent performing arts venue as the Trump-Kennedy Center, but critics say the move isn’t legal.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the decision on Thursday on X, attributing the change to the “unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”
The president, who has previously jokingly referred to the venue as the “Trump Kennedy Center,” said he was surprised by the vote.
“I was surprised by it. I was honored by it,” Trump said at an executive-order signing on Thursday. “You know, we’re saving the building. We saved the building.”
Can the Kennedy Center rename itself for Trump?
Only Congress can legally change the name of the Kennedy Center, according to legal observers.
“Under current law, there I think is very little question that the Kennedy Center board cannot rename the Opera House after Melania Trump or pretty much anybody else and would need Congress’s permission for anything like that,” David Super, a Georgetown law professor, told The Washington Post earlier this year, as Congress was mulling renaming the center for the president or the first lady. “… That statute is pretty unequivocal, and I can’t really find any loopholes in it.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the center’s board, said the name change vote was not on the agenda and that she was muted on the call where it was discussed and not allowed to voice her opposition.
“This was not consensus,” she wrote on X. “This is censorship.”
How are Kennedy family members reacting to the change?
Relatives of the late President Kennedy sharply criticized the decision to rename the center.
Maria Shriver, Kennedy’s niece, wrote on X that the decision left her “speechless, and enraged, and in a state of disbelief.”
Jack Schlossberg, the late president’s grandson, claimed the decision to rename the center was motivated by his ongoing campaign for Congress in New York.
“Our campaign represents everything Trump can’t stand or defeat,” Schlossberg wrote on X.
The Independent has contacted the White House and the Kennedy Center for comment.
Trump has repeatedly floated a name change for the Kennedy Center
Trump, who chairs the board, has frequently referred to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, named after a Democratic predecessor, as the “Trump Kennedy Center.”
When questioned on December 7 about renaming the venue after himself as he walked the red carpet for the Kennedy Center Honors program, Trump stated such a decision would rest with the board.
Earlier this month, he spoke of a “big event on Friday at the Trump Kennedy Center” before quickly correcting himself to “excuse me, at the Kennedy Center,” prompting laughter from his audience.
He was referencing the FIFA World Cup soccer draw for 2026, in which he participated.
Name change is the latest in a controversial Kennedy Center takeover by Trump
While Trump showed little interest in the Kennedy Center during his first term, his return to office in January saw him replace board members appointed by Democratic presidents with his staunch supporters, who subsequently elected him as board chairman. He has also criticized the center’s programming and physical state, vowing to overhaul both.
Trump secured over $250 million from the Republican-controlled Congress for renovations to the building, attended the opening night of the musical “Les Misérables,” and last week hosted the Kennedy Center Honors program, an event he did not attend during his first term. The awards program is scheduled for broadcast on CBS and Paramount+ on December 23.
The newly installed leadership at the center has praised Trump’s leadership.
“The unanimous vote recognizes that the current Chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction,” Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, told the Post on Thursday. “The new Trump Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center for generations to come.”
Since the Trump takeover, artists have boycotted the center and ticket sales have fallen sharply at its three largest venues, according to an analysis from the paper.
The shake-up at the Kennedy Center follows Trump’s earlier decision to convert the Kennedy-era Rose Garden at the White House into a patio by replacing the lawn with paving stones. Another Kennedy family member, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., currently serves in Trump’s Cabinet as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump’s first-term renaming spree
The Trump administration has shown a zeal for renaming things according to the wishes of the president and his allies, even if they lack clear authority to do so.
The White House now insists on referring to the Pentagon as the Department of War, and has signed an executive order to that effect, even though an act of Congress is required to officially rename a federal department. So far, that hasn’t happened.
The president has also introduced a “Trump gold card” immigration program, granting permanent residency to individuals who pay the government $1 million, though critics say he lacks the authority to carry out what amounts to a unilateral change in immigration law.
