President Donald Trump is fond of putting his name on things, but employees have begun to remove it from the Kennedy Center, in compliance with a federal judge’s May 29 ruling.
A Thursday memo from the center’s Office of General Counsel, a copy of which was obtained by Politico, ordered staff to begin removing references to Trump from everything, from communication and promotional materials to signage.
The memo called for some immediate changes, including in email signatures, letterhead, and other documents, to revert to the name “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center.” It added that templates, forms, signage, brochures, and website pages must be revised by June 12.
The memo did not state if the center, where Trump is chairperson of the board and whose leadership is packed with his allies, plans to appeal the ruling.
“We are complying with the court’s order while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership,” Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, told the Associated Press.
The Kennedy Center’s board in December had attempted to attach Trump’s name to the storied institution, named by Congress after the assassinated former President John F. Kennedy in 1964. But the move drew backlash and a lawsuit from Rep. Joyce Beatty (D, Ohio), one of the board’s ex-officio members.
On May 29, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., an Obama appointee, ruled that the rebranding violated federal law and reiterated that only Congress can change the center’s name. Cooper then gave the Kennedy Center 14 days to remove all physical signage referring to a “Trump Kennedy Center” and eliminate similar branding on other official materials.
Cooper’s ruling also blocked the board’s March decision to close down the Kennedy Center for two years for renovations, ruling that the sweeping closure announced by Trump in February appeared “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.” But Cooper said repair work may continue, and he didn’t bar any future board decision to close the center, as long as the board has “sufficient information to make a considered, independent decision.”
“By way of this opinion, the Court does not purport to dictate how the Center should be run, nor does it prescribe any particular plan for the institution—construction, closure, or otherwise—moving forward,” Cooper wrote in his ruling. “It simply holds the Kennedy Center Board to certain minimum requirements imposed by law. Beyond that, the Court will let the parties play on.”
The ruling is a setback to Trump’s ongoing attempt to change Washington’s historical landmarks—which also includes plans to build a Triumphal Arch and ongoing demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for a ballroom, projects that are similarly facing legal challenges.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said Cooper’s ruling “rejected challenges” to the renovations, stating it was “pleased” with the decision. It added that Trump Administration lawyers “will continue to defend President Trump’s ability to restore the Center to its former glory as the finest performing arts center in the country – if not the world.”
But Trump already seems to have soured on putting his personal stamp on the center, despite having previously gone into specific details about how he plans to remake it.
In a post on Truth Social on May 29, Trump said he instructed the Commerce Department to “transfer” the Kennedy Center to Congress and make Congress responsible for its operation, maintenance, and management—though it’s unclear how that would work.
“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically,” Trump added, “I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND.’”
