Saturday, May 13, 2026
Tens of thousands of people tuned in, and several hundred showed up in person to watch workers restore the honor of John F. Kennedy, as President Donald Trump’s attempt to tack his name onto the JFK-adjacent landmark at the Kennedy Center collapsed in real time.
Earlier today, social media feeds—including a live stream carried on MS NOW—showed the removal of Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center building. Crowds gathered below and cheered as crews dismantled the giant letters, with many viewers treating the moment as more than a branding reversal: an assertion that a memorial belonging to the American public shouldn’t be repurposed as a personal monument.
That restoration came after a judge ordered the Kennedy Center to revert to its original name by a Friday deadline. In the days leading up to the scrapping, the center also began removing references to Trump across its official channels—its website, phone messaging, and YouTube—following an internal direction to staff to strip away Trump-related branding from public-facing materials, including signage and promotional content.
The controversy began when the Kennedy Center’s trustees—stacked with Trump allies—moved to rename the venue to the “Trump-Kennedy Center” in December. The change triggered immediate backlash and litigation, including a lawsuit by Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex officio board member who had been stripped of voting power during the takeover process.
In May, U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled that the board lacked authority to rename the congressionally designated memorial. As Cooper emphasized, Congress set the Kennedy Center’s name—and only Congress can change it—underscoring that the decision wasn’t merely unpopular, but unlawful.
The removal now stands as one of the most visible reversals of Trump’s second-term pattern of putting his name—or image—on major federal and public institutions, from passports to battleships to federally connected buildings. Here, the courts and public pressure forced a boundary: JFK’s legacy was not up for grabs.
Another Lawsuit Follows Public Humiliation
And the legal fight is far from over. The Washington National Opera has now filed a more than $17 million lawsuit, alleging the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center failed to return roughly $17 million in donated funds after the opera split from the venue. The opera argues the money was provided specifically for its programming and education mission—funds it says were effectively taken during the upheaval tied to Trump’s control of the institution.
Taken together, the rulings and lawsuits reflect the same central theme: the Kennedy Center belongs to the people and to the rule of law—not to any president’s attempt to borrow another person’s historical stature. In restoring the building’s name to John F. Kennedy, the courts didn’t just remove letters from a facade—they reaffirmed who national memorials are meant to honor.
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