Trump threatens to shut Kennedy Center for good after judge blocks name change

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is seen from the Georgetown Waterfront in Washington, DC. A federal judge blocked the Kennedy Center from adding US President Donald Trump’s name to its facade, while the centre’s board separately voted to immediately close its main building amid financial and structural concerns. — AFP pic

First Published: Wednesday, 16 Sep 2026 8:39 AM MYT

WASHIINGTON, Sept 16 — US President Donald Trump threatened yesterday to keep the Kennedy Center closed for good after a judge ruled his name cannot be added onto the famed arts institution’s facade.

Trump said his hand-picked board voted “almost unanimously” to shut the venue immediately for emergency renovations, just a few hours after the federal judge’s decision.

But he warned the “very large and complex” repairs at the building in Washington cannot begin until a higher court rules on whether the center can be renamed after himself.

“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the US Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.

The Kennedy Center said in a statement to AFP that the board’s decision “reflects sound judgment and a clear prioritization of safety above all else.”

Shortly after beginning his second term, Republican Trump installed himself as chairman of the center, which is named in honor of late president John F. Kennedy, a Democrat who championed civil rights before he was assassinated in 1963.

The board voted in December to call it the “Trump-Kennedy” Center and installed signage with his name on it.

US federal judge Christopher Cooper previously ordered Trump’s name removed from the exterior and overturned the board’s decision to rename the institution.

Cooper ruled yesterday that Trump’s name cannot be added back, rebuking the center for trying to circumvent his earlier order.

“Simply put,” wrote Cooper in his decision, the board “cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.”

Demolition threat 

Trump himself called into the board meeting and berated a Democratic congresswoman who serves on the board and filed the lawsuit that blocked its renaming, CNN reported.

The Kennedy Center takeover is one of several projects aimed at stamping Trump’s brand on the US capital, including a triumphal arch and a half-billion dollar ballroom at the White House.

Workers removed Trump’s name from the building in June, but scaffolding and tarps have remained ever since.

Last month, the board moved forward with a plan to add a new signage on the building that would read “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump.”

Cooper yesterday said that plan was in violation of his previous ruling.

Trump and his chosen leaders of the Kennedy Center have argued that its main building, which was constructed in the 1960s, is in a state of dangerous disrepair.

As evidence of the safety problems, the president pointed to a recent incident in which a piece of the ceiling tumbled to the ground following a storm.

“If the Building were open, innocent people would have been killed,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social before the judge’s ruling.

Last month, as part of court proceedings, the Trump administration warned that the center may need to be demolished, if its plans to renovate the building were blocked.

A host of artists canceled concerts at the venue in response to Trump’s takeover, while US media has reported that Kennedy Center ticket sales have plummeted. — AFP