Updated June 13, 2026 at 1:00 PM EDT
WASHINGTON - Workers have taken down President Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center, hours after a court-ordered Friday deadline to remove it from the building, and less than six months after it was first affixed to the iconic performing arts venue. The removal of the more than a dozen bronze letters followed a judge's ruling that the Center could not be renamed without Congressional approval.
In a court filing, Kennedy Center Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Charles Matthew Floca confirmed that President Trump's name has been removed from the building façade, despite what Floca said were weather-related delays. References to Trump on the center's website are also gone.
Just a month into his second term, Trump ousted the Kennedy Center's president, board chair and board members, then replaced them with a group of trustees that soon named Trump as chairman. Soon after, the president's name was added to the building, so that it became, "The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts."
The administration had on Friday asked a higher court to stay the ruling as it argued that Trump's name on the building had helped attract donors and was crucial to raising funds for the Kennedy Center's renovation.
"Without the name, "Trump" on the Building, our fundraising will not only come to a halt," the administration wrote in a court filing, "but any and all monies raised or committed would be obligated to be returned, refunded or terminated."
An appeals court denied that request Friday night. Workers erected scaffolding on Friday around the section of the building where Trump's name had been added in December 2025. Then, in a pre-dawn operation, the laborers draped the scaffolding in tarpaulin, before removing the giant metallic letters. The Kennedy Center had asked a judge to briefly extend the deadline for this removal —because of Friday night thunderstorms forecast for Washington D.C.
Finally, with the scaffolding up, and tarpaulin covering their efforts, workers began to remove Trump's name. Hundreds of people braved the rain and thunderstorms overnight to document the take-down. Some heckled those involved for hiding the removal using tarpaulin – with shouts of "Cover up!" and "Cowards!"
Among the onlookers watching proceedings was Krystal Brewer, 40, who works for a social justice advocacy group. She said removing Trump's name was a way to enforce accountability, maintain government checks and balances, and reclaim a piece of Washington from a president who she said has tried to impose his stamp on the nation's capital. "It's about just not being able to do something just because you think you're the most powerful person and you can defy the courts," Brewer said.
Trump has recently overseen the controversial demolition of the White House's East Wing in favor of a giant ballroom, and ordered large banners of his face to hang from several federal buildings during his second term. "I wanted to see us get a part of our city back," said Brewer. "With all the things that he's trying to destroy and corrupt and taint and alter, it's nice to see a piece of it being restored."
Also among those gathered on the Center's plaza Friday was Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who initiated the lawsuit to remove Trump's name from the building. She wrote on social media that she had stood outside to watch, writing "No more stalling. It's time for Trump to obey the law."
Watching the tarps go up a little before 2 a.m., Saturday, another onlooker, 60-year-old nurse Mary Foltz, said it was a metaphor for the Trump administration.
"I think there's a lack of transparency — and that's just the epitome of it," Foltz said. "This is a meme."
Copyright 2026 NPR
