OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
UPDATE: 12:45 PM – Friday, December 19, 2025:
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. received new signage displaying President Donald Trump’s name above President John F. Kennedy’s.
Photos emerged on Friday of the installation, with the building now titled “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
The performing arts center’s board voted on Thursday to rename the facility in honor of Trump, who secured funding from Congress to restore the facility.
President Trump reacted to the board’s decision on Thursday in the Oval Office.
“I was surprised by it, and I was honored by it,” he said, adding, “We saved the building. That building was in such bad shape, both physically, financially, and every other way, and now it’s very solid, it’s very strong. … The Kennedy Center is really back strongly.”
He noted that his administration got “Congress to put up a lot of money, and other people to put up a lot of money. We had a lot of donors come in for record-setting numbers, so we saved the Kennedy Center.”
1:00 PM – Thursday, December 18, 2025
The Board of the Kennedy Center has unanimously voted to rename the Kennedy Center the ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ to honor President Donald Trump’s work to revitalize the venue.
On Thursday morning, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took to social media to announce the name change.
“I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center, some of the most successful people from all parts of the world, have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,” she wrote. “Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”
Leavitt congratulated both President Trump and President John F. Kennedy, whom she believes to be “a truly great team,” as the name would symbolize.
“The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur,” Leavitt predicted.
Trump is chairman of the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and has been since he was voted into the role in February. He has referred to the venue as the “Trump Kennedy Center” in the past.
Earlier this month, while on the red carpet for the Kennedy Center Honors program, he was asked if he would rename the venue after himself, to which he responded that the decision would be up to the board.
The center recently hosted the FIFA World Cup soccer draw for 2026, which Trump also participated in. Beforehand, he had said there would be a “big event on Friday at the Trump Kennedy Center,” then corrected himself, saying, “excuse me, at the Kennedy Center,” to the sound of laughs from the audience.
Some Kennedy family members publicly disapproved of the name change.
President Kennedy’s niece, Maria Shriver, took to social media to bash the decision.
The Kennedy Center has been a point of interest for Trump since re-entering office this year. He vowed to overhaul its board, programming and physical appearance, noting that its board members, who had been nominated by previous administrations, had allowed drag queens to perform there. According to the Associated Press, he secured more than $250 million from Congress for renovations of the building.
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