Workers begin removing Trump's name from Kennedy Center

Source: Washington Post

Workers begin removing Trump's name from Kennedy Center

After courts knocked down attempts to delay the signage change, the Kennedy Center missed the Friday deadline to remove President Donald Trump's name by midnight.

June 13, 2026 at 3:33 a.m. EDT 21 minutes ago
8 min


Spectators watch as workers put up scaffolding ahead of a court-mandated deadline to remove President Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center's facade. (Craig Hudson/For The Washington Post)

By Jonathan Edwards
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jonathan-edwards/

President Donald Trump's name is now being taken off the Kennedy Center.

Crews at the performing arts venue started removing it from the front of the building around 3 a.m., several hours after the center missed a federal judge's two-week deadline to do so. The judge had ruled that the decision by the center's board of trustees to rename it was illegal.

With the removal of 18 letters -- "The Donald J. Trump and" -- the building's exterior will read "The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts" once more. Trump's name had been on the facade for 176 days, a dramatic change to the 55-year-old memorial to an assassinated president.


A worker removes a letter from the Kennedy Center's front sign, as crews enforce a court order to take President Donald Trump's name off the building. (Craig Hudson/FTWP)

Around midnight, the center filed a request to extend the deadline to noon Saturday, saying storms had delayed the work, capping a day of construction work and a flurry of legal maneuvering.

A crowd had gathered in front of the arts venue to watch the results of a lawsuit brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio trustee who sued her fellow trustees for adding Trump's name to the title of the Kennedy Center. A federal judge agreed the move was illegal and late last month ordered the center to remove Trump's name by the end of this week.

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Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) addresses people gathered to watch the action Friday. (Craig Hudson/For The Washington Post)

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Tara Hoot, a drag performer who's spoken out against changes at the Kennedy Center, spoke and entertained on Friday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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Demonstrators cheered the arrival of a rainbow after storm clouds. (Craig Hudson/For The Washington Post)

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Jade Tran contributed to this report.

Comments 2,238
2.3k comments
The comments express strong disapproval of Donald Trump's name being associated with the Kennedy Center, with many celebrating the decision to remove it. Commenters criticize Trump's actions as egotistical and inappropriate, viewing the removal as a victory for justice and a step towards erasing his influence. There is gratitude towards Judge Christopher Cooper for the ruling, and some commenters express a desire for further actions to diminish Trump's presence in public spaces.

By Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards is an arts and government reporter covering how the Trump administration is influencing cultural institutions -- including the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian museums, the Library of Congress and the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities -- and how those shifts ripple through the arts, public life and national identity.follow on Xjonathanreports
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jonathan-edwards/

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/06/12/kennedy-center-removes-trumps-name-building/