The Kennedy Center said that it will remove Donald Trump‘s name from the facade of the arts complex — but that may not happen until early Saturday morning.
As a court-ordered deadline passed midnight, Justice Department attorneys asked a judge for a 12-hour extension of time, saying that thunderstorms earlier in the evening delayed the construction of scaffolding so crews could begin the process of removing the letters.
With the center’s appeals exhausted, crews are expected to take down the words “The Donald J. Trump And,” leaving the center with its original designation: “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
The delay also would push the removal into the middle of the night, diminishing the audience watching the event in person or on TV.
Throughout the day on Friday, news crews and hundreds of spectators gathered to watch the moment. C-SPAN and some independent content creators, such as Jim Acosta, streamed the scene, and cable network provided regular updates.
“Take it down. Take it down,” many in the crowd shouted during the day and into the evening. They cheered at moments of progress during the construction of the scaffolding, and should out which letters they wanted to go first.
The center officially had until midnight to remove the president’s name and comply with a judge’s order. Last month, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the center’s board, controlled by Trump, lacked authority to add the president’s name to the complex, and that only Congress could do so. While the center removed Trump’s name from its website and on social media earlier in the week, it had remained on the front of the complex.
Trump and the board sought a stay that would have allowed them to retain the name beyond the deadline, but Cooper rejected it. They then appealed to the D.C. Circuit, but a three-judge panel denied that motion as well.
In their appellate motion, parts of which seemed to be written by Trump himself, the center argued that “millions” raised via the Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation would have to be returned. They argued that “people and companies, who have given, or will be giving, millions of dollars to the Center were only willing to do so with the name ‘Trump’ on the Building.”
Just weeks into his second term, Trump took control of the center’s board, ensuring that he would be elected its chairman. In December, the board voted to add Trump’s name to the complex, generating an outcry from Democrats and members of the Kennedy family.
After the new branding, the center saw another round of artists canceling bookings. Ticket sales already had declined following the Trump takeover, which was not a big surprise given the core audience for the arts complex: Residents of Washington, D.C., northern Virginia and Maryland, which noted heavily against Trump in the 2024 election.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex-officio member of the board, filed suit to remove Trump’s name and halt plans to close the center for two years for renovations. Cooper also ruled that the board was “derelict” in voting to close the center without fully considering its impact on things such as programming. Beatty was outside the center on Friday evening.
Per the DOJ, Beatty’s legal team responded to the request for a time extension by noting that the center “had two weeks to comply with the order, and only need an extension because of their inexcusable delay.”
“Plaintiff also has concerns that this fits a patten of non-compliance on Defendants’ part,” the DOJ told the judge. “But under the circumstances, Plaintiff takes no position on a 12 hour extension. Plaintiff would strongly oppose any further extensions.”
In their coverage of the pending removal of Trump’s name from the center, CNN and MS NOW coverage also noted the symbolic meaning of the scene, of a successful pushback on a president who has tried to remake D.C.
That said, Trump is continuing to shatter norms this weekend, after he invited Ultimate Fighting Championship to hold a weekend of events tied to the 250th anniversary of the United States. Nearby the Kennedy Center earlier on Friday, UFC held a press conference at the Lincoln Memorial, a prelude to the cage match at the White House on Sunday, held in a giant makeshift arena.
