President Donald Trump infuriated much of the country when he slapped his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last year.
Despite the Kennedy Center being created as a living memorial to the 35th president, who was assassinated in 1963, Trump fired several board members and replaced them with his so-called friends. The new board voted for the name change and to make the president the chairman of the board, and it’s been nothing but chaos since.
Only Congress has the authority to change the name, which is why the POTUS fired the board and replaced them, but the controversy over the matter doesn’t end there.
Trump even replaced Richard Grenell, his ally who served as interim head of the Kennedy Center, with Matt Floca, the center’s vice president of facilities operations. This change followed a tumultuous year of dwindling ticket sales and planned renovations that no one wants.
Former Kennedy Center board of trustees member Rep. Joyce Beatty is one of many outraged patrons who she seeks to put a stop to it all.
Beatty filed a federal lawsuit requesting that his name be removed from the building on the grounds that Trump’s actions were unlawful. The Democratic Ohio congresswoman also demands that his planned two-year shutdown for renovations be blocked because there was no expert consultation about the renovations, only Trump’s say-so.
“Can the Board of the Kennedy Center — in direct contradiction of the governing statutes — rename this sacred memorial to John F. Kennedy after President Donald J. Trump? The answer is, unequivocally, ‘no,'” the lawsuit reads. “By renaming the Center — in violation of the law — Defendants have breached the terms of the trust and their most basic fiduciary obligations as trustees.”
Trump responded to the lawsuit with a court filing on April 6, and his attorneys defended the renaming and closure of the center.
“Plaintiff has not alleged that she suffered any harm — whether ‘tangible,’ like a ‘physical’ or ‘monetary’ harm, or ‘intangible,’ like a reputational harm — stemming from the Board’s decisions to adopt a secondary name and to close for renovation,” states the document.
“The Center is closing for renovation because a concentrated two-year project — rather than a ‘multi-year series of patchwork repairs’ — will enable the Board to fully execute required mechanical overhauls and to conduct invasive structural repairs in as short and cost-effective a timeframe as possible.”
Beatty responded to the filing by saying her legal team would respond in court, and she also made a dig at the twice-impeached president.
“Consider just one damning fact,” she said. “Donald Trump and his handpicked friends on the Board are now exposed for not doing their due diligence considering the now tragic consequences for the unlawful renaming of this treasured institution. Congress never authorized this vanity project which is defacing a sacred memorial to a fallen President, and I look forward to our day in court.”
Beatty appeared on Jake Tapper’s show “The Lead” on CNN in March, and she explained why she brought the lawsuit.
“I’m not against any renovations making it safe,” she said. “But I’m against any and everything that is unlawful. They did not bring it before the United States Congress just as when Donald Trump put his name across the Kennedy Center. He did not get approval from the Congress to do that. And it’s stated in the statute that he had to bring it before Congress.”
Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board approved a two-year closure for renovations – but ex-officio members of the board were not allowed to vote. One of those members, Rep. Joyce Beatty, tells @jaketapper she still stated her opposition during the meeting. pic.twitter.com/3gEsEQANxY
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) March 16, 2026
Users on social media reacted to Trump’s obsession with the Kennedy Center by dragging him for his hubris.
“He puts his name on something then it’s garbage,” wrote one user on Facebook.
Several celebrities declined to perform at the Kennedy Center after Trump took over, and many users believe it’s the true reason the president wants to close the performing arts facility.
One user wrote, “Trump trying to save face. But, this will cost Americans.” Another said, “The man likes chaos. He thrives on it. He lives for it. He will cause it with every breath he takes.”
Piling on for destroying history, one person added, “Trump is removing the Kennedy’s legacy, I can’t see why the [Robert F.] Kennedy (I don’t know his first name) that is a part of his administration is not offended by this.”
Beatty also told Tapper that she was setting an example by standing up to Trump for democracy, and she referenced his illegal war in Iran. Trump attacked the country, also without the approval from Congress, on Feb. 28. “This is a democracy,” she said.
The Kennedy Center closure is currently scheduled for July 7.
