Trump adds his name to The Kennedy Center - media

The board of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the United States, voted to rename it The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on 18th December 2025, major news outlets reported.

In the following day, Trump's name was added to the signage of the centre. Below is a movie clip from AP.

Many journalists criticised the move. The New Yorker published an opinion piece titled, Trump dishonours the Kennedy Center." CNN took a legal analysis into it in "Trump’s bulldozer view of laws hits the Kennedy Center."

Protestors gathered outside The Kennedy Center on 20th December to speak against the centre's name change. The event was organised by Hands Off the Arts, Pack the House Purple, and Kennedy Center United Arts Workers, according to the DC Theater Arts website.

The website published an article ahead of the protest, titled,"The John F. Kennedy Center belongs to the American people."

The name change sparked disapproval from the Kennedys, too, The Hill reported on 19th December.

"Robert F. Kennedy’s grandson, former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), poked at the legality of the new name by saying that the center is “a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law.”" The Hill said, citing his post on X.

Kerry Kennedy, daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, said on X that she would “grab a pickax” to remove Trump's name from the signate, The Hill said.

Kerry Kennedy is a niece of former President John F. Kennedy, after whom the centre was named, according to The Hill.

The logo of The Kennedy Center's website has also changed. The logo is seen at the upper left corner of the screenshot below.

Screenshot of my MacBook as of 21st December

The web address, www.kennedy-center.org, remains the same. This article by The Washington Post on 20th December may explain one of the reasons why the web address has not been changed.

Toby Morton, a comedy writer with “South Park” and “Mad TV”, bought trumpkennedycenter.org and trumpkennedycenter.com in August, the newspaper said.

President Trump himself said he was "surprised" and "honored" according to The New York Times.

The newspaper said in its article on 19th December,

"Some Trump supporters who work in the building were amused by the trollishness of it all, but also conceded it was only going to make their jobs harder. Theatergoers had already been boycotting the center in large numbers as the place became ever more politicized this year.

"And that was before the name Donald J. Trump was put on the front of the building."