Recommendations of the Editorial team
Workers began removing Donald Trump’s name from the exterior of the Kennedy Center Saturday morning – Hours after a court-ordered deadline to complete the work by Friday (June 12) passed.
Thousands of people watched various live streams on Friday that showed the exterior of the concert and theater venue in Washington DC – and watched as workers erected scaffolding for hours without removing Trump’s name.
Work continued Saturday morning: Workers rolled out a large curtain to cover the actual removal of the “Donald J. Trump” lettering from the building’s facade. A live stream in front of the Kennedy Center showed dozens of passers-by walking past the building unaware – while everything was going on on the other side of the facade-wide tarpaulin.
Judicial confirmation
Matthew Floca, chief operating officer and executive director of the Kennedy Center, confirmed in a court filing Saturday that work crews removed “all physical signage” from the building and grounds “naming the Kennedy Center after President Trump or any person other than President Kennedy.” However, the tarp remained in place hours after the “physical signage” was removed.
In late May, a federal judge ruled that the Kennedy Center board had violated the law by displaying the president’s name on the venue. The court also prohibited the planned temporary closure of the house in the summer for renovation work.
The law establishing the center “makes crystal clear that the Center shall be named for President Kennedy and cannot bear any other official name or public monument based solely on the board’s decision,” U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper wrote in his ruling, adding: “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name – and only Congress can change it.”
Cooper’s ruling required those responsible to remove all signage at the Kennedy Center bearing Trump’s name within two weeks. Additionally, the website must be updated to remove all references to the name “Trump Kennedy Center” and to “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
Appeal failed
The Kennedy Center board and the Justice Department unsuccessfully appealed Cooper’s ruling – both attempts were dismissed, after which the deadline for removing Trump’s name from the exterior was set for Friday. At this point, references to the “Trump-Kennedy Center” had already been deleted from the house’s own website.