The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., has begun removing references to Donald Trump from the institution, one week after a federal judge ruled that his name had been added illegally to the prestigious performing arts center.
In a memo dated June 4, the center’s attorneys instructed staff to immediately remove Trump’s name from signs, letterheads, and email signatures, restoring the institution’s legal name: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” More extensive changes—including removing Trump’s name from the building’s facade, as well as from templates, brochures, and website pages—must be completed by June 12, the memo states.
The memo follows a May 29 decision by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocking the name change and preventing the administration from shuttering the Kennedy Center for renovations set to begin in July. After the ruling, Trump took to social media, describing Cooper as an “anti Trump Hater” and predicting that the center would “soon be closed, probably never to open again.”
Roma Daravi, the cultural venue’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement to the Associated Press that “we are complying with the court’s order while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership.”
As President Donald Trump’s name is removed from the Kennedy Center, a museum in Jerusalem is poised to bear it instead.
Israel’s cabinet is reportedly set to pass a resolution on Sunday to rename the Heritage and Archaeology Center, located within the Rockefeller Museum complex, after Trump, whose administration Israel regards as a staunch ally. The Rockefeller Museum was established with a donation from the American business magnate John D. Rockefeller Jr. during the British Mandate, when Britain governed Palestine and the surrounding region from 1923 to 1948.
Consequently, the museum’s collection comprises artifacts excavated by British authorities from across the Mandate territory. The institution was known as the Palestine Archaeological Museum until the Six-Day War in 1967—a conflict between Israel and neighboring Arab states that ended with Israel taking control of East Jerusalem. Israeli media report that the cultural and educational heritage center soon to bear Trump’s name was established in an effort to boost the museum’s flagging attendance.
Unlike the Kennedy Center, the site is not subject to any Israeli law restricting changes to its name.
