---
source_url: https://gwhatchet.com/2026/06/13/kennedy-center-removes-trumps-name-after-judges-order/
---

A group of construction workers removed President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center’s branding early Saturday morning, a few hours after the midnight deadline set by a federal judge who [ruled](https://gwhatchet.com/2026/05/29/judge-orders-removal-of-trumps-name-from-kennedy-center-halts-closure/) the president’s name must come down.
Construction crews spent most of Friday and into early Saturday morning building scaffolding around the letters of the building as the Center’s Board of Trustees, full of Trump appointees after the president [purged](https://gwhatchet.com/2025/02/10/trump-vows-to-fire-kennedy-center-board-chair-assume-chairman-position/) the Board and appointed himself chair in February 2025, [sought](https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/06/11/kennedy-center-board-fight-order-remove-trumps-name-deadline-looms/) a last-minute stay to delay the removal, which two courts denied. The move marks the culmination of efforts to remove Trump’s name from the Center’s marketing after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper’s [decision](https://gwhatchet.com/2026/05/29/judge-orders-removal-of-trumps-name-from-kennedy-center-halts-closure/) last month that the president’s efforts to shut down the Center for two years and rename it to the Trump-Kennedy Center were illegal.
Cooper at around 1 p.m. Friday [denied](https://abcnews.com/Politics/judge-denies-request-stay-kennedy-center-renaming-order/story?id=133818900) the Center’s attempt to delay the removal of Trump’s name from the building, stating the Center did not demonstrate evidence that they were likely to win their appeal of his decision. The Center then appealed the decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also denied it.
The Center filed a request around midnight Friday — the original deadline for removal — for an extension to Saturday at noon, claiming thunderstorms had delayed their work. The court granted the request and [certified](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.287972/gov.uscourts.dcd.287972.59.0_2.pdf) the Center had fully removed Trump’s name Saturday.
Workers [arrived](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/trumps-name-being-removed-from-kennedy-center-exterior/4115993/) around 10:30 a.m. Friday in preparation for removing the name from the side of the building, [constructing](https://x.com/washingtonian/status/2065600591544328549?s=20) scaffolding around the Center.
A crowd of around two to three dozen onlookers gathered throughout the day, which grew to hundreds by nightfall as the midnight deadline approached. Onlookers draped themselves in American flags, speakers played songs like “Solidarity Forever” — a trade union [anthem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8eK9ZXf-Ow) — and groups [chanted](https://x.com/jonathanreports/status/2065580482121671132?s=20) “Take it down” multiple times throughout the night. As the midnight deadline passed, the crowd started booing the letters which remained on the Center’s facade.
U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) — an ex-officio member of the Kennedy’s Center’s Board — was also in [attendance](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/workers-begin-removing-trump-name-from-the-kennedy-center/4116410/) at the plaza where people watched the removal process, staying until the removal was complete at around 4 a.m. Saturday. Cooper last month [ruled](https://gwhatchet.com/2026/05/29/judge-orders-removal-of-trumps-name-from-kennedy-center-halts-closure/) in favor of a lawsuit Beatty filed in March to challenge the institution’s name change and closure, [claiming](https://x.com/RepBeatty/status/2001741402745524362?s=20) she was denied voting rights at the meeting where the Board voted to change the name of the center. Cooper [said](https://gwhatchet.com/2026/05/29/judge-orders-removal-of-trumps-name-from-kennedy-center-halts-closure/) in his ruling that the law was “crystal clear” that the Center be named only after President John F. Kennedy and that Beatty as an ex officio member of the Board is entitled to voting rights.
Cooper also [ruled](https://gwhatchet.com/2026/05/29/judge-orders-removal-of-trumps-name-from-kennedy-center-halts-closure/) against the two-year closure of the Center [proposed](https://gwhatchet.com/2026/02/02/trump-says-kennedy-center-will-close-for-two-years-for-renovations/) by Trump in February because it violated the Center’s “fiduciary duty” and that the Board was thus “derelict” in fulfilling its duties to the center. Trump originally pushed to [close](https://gwhatchet.com/2026/02/02/trump-says-kennedy-center-will-close-for-two-years-for-renovations/) the Center to address maintenance issues and by doing so he said it will bring the Center to the “highest level of success.”
Multiple artists and performers, [including](https://gwhatchet.com/2025/12/18/kennedy-center-board-votes-to-rename-it-trump-kennedy-center/) the musical Hamilton and the Washington National Opera, canceled their shows and moved to other venues following Trump’s initial takeover last year, with even more [debating](https://gwhatchet.com/2026/02/09/performers-look-for-alternatives-as-trump-plans-kennedy-center-closure/) on moving existing performances.
Center staff [began](https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/08/politics/kennedy-center-trump-name) removing Trump’s name from its [websites](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/trump-branding-removed-from-kennedy-center-website/4113858/), [marketing](https://x.com/PenguinSix/status/2065214194304114979) materials and official documents following Cooper’s initial order, according to CNN.
The White House and Kennedy Center did not return a request for comment.
Roma Davari, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said in a December statement following the initial name change that the trustees unanimously approved adding Trump’s name to the building to recognize his efforts to save the institution from “financial ruin” and “physical destruction.”
Davari also said the new Center reflects the “unequivocal bipartisan support” for America’s cultural Center.