The Kennedy Center removed Donald Trump’s name from its website on Monday after a U.S. district judge ordered references to a “Trump Kennedy Center” taken down. The move put the venue in compliance with the ruling, even as employees were told to update signatures, letterheads and other documents immediately.
The center’s general counsel instructed staff to use “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center” in email signatures, letterheads and other materials, with further changes to templates, forms, signage, brochures and website pages due by Friday, June 12, 2026. The deadline gives the venue nearly a year to finish the broader rebranding work, but the court order made the first step immediate.
Judge Christopher Cooper said in a 94-page opinion last month that the center cannot be renamed without an act of Congress. He also temporarily blocked the venue from closing this summer for renovations tied to a $257 million revitalization project approved by its board, a project that would have shut the building for two years.
The website change did not reach the building itself. As of Monday afternoon, the front of the performing arts venue in Washington still read “The Donald J Trump” and “The John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” underscoring the gap between the center’s online branding and the sign people see at the door.
Trump criticized Cooper on social media in a 578-word statement after the ruling, saying he had “no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND.’” The judge’s order has already forced the center to move quickly online, but the remaining exterior signage leaves the most visible part of the name unchanged for now. When that front sign comes down, or whether it will be changed at all before the June 2026 deadline, remains the open question.
