President Donald Trump apparently lost his cool after losing a major legal battle.
Drama has ensued since the ego-driven president added his name to the front of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Oct. 2025.
The new Trump-chaired Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted to rename the cultural landmark, but one Democrat pushed back with a federal lawsuit.
Trump reportedly got into a verbal altercation with a Democratic congresswoman, Joyce Beatty, over the Kennedy Center.(Photos by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Ex-officio Kennedy board member Rep. Joyce Beatty sued the Trump administration over the name change. In May, a federal judge ruled that only Congress can rename Kennedy Center.
Meanwhile, black fencing and barricades have gone up around the center, giving the latest power struggle a more visible edge.
At Tuesday’s emergency board meeting, Trump’s hand-picked trustees voted to close the Kennedy Center, citing financial and safety concerns.
The virtual call, which the president joined, apparently became extremely heated, says Beatty, 76, who gave her side of the story after the meeting.
“If he thought trying to bully me was going to stop me from standing up for what’s right, he picked the wrong person,” Beatty told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
After the host revealed a source called the call “f—ng crazy,” Beatty added more clarity on what happened. “He threw a tantrum. It was like an immature child. I wouldn’t even want to put this on a child,” she said.
Beatty had more to say about Trump’s post-ruling Truth Social message, where he implied the Kennedy board voted to “immediately” close the site.
“That was not what the vote was. He stated that we voted to close down the Kennedy Center today,” Beatty said. “While I did not support the vote, the others who voted did not vote for the language that he is putting up on Truth Social.”
Plus, she noted that the Kennedy Center is still open and Trump “would be in contempt of court” if he tried to close the venue down. The Justice Department is said to be investigating the situation.
Rumors that the building had to be evacuated became part of the ongoing turf war over the memorial to the late JFK. Beatty said, “It was reported that it was a false fire alarm. So, people had to leave, and then they were able to come back into the board.”
Beatty appeared on MS NOW as well. During a segment on the network’s “The Weeknight” show, the former Congressional Black Caucus chair recalled clashing with Trump.
“He went into name-calling,” Beatty stated before adding, “He said, ‘I think you’re incompetent.’ And I said, ‘I know you’re incompetent.’”
Apparently, the tension continued to rise as the Democratic lawmaker reminded Trump about his six Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings.
Beatty may have created an enemy in the president, but she seemed to have gained online supporters for not backing down to the head of the MAGA movement.
“The only person to stand toe to toe with Trump, wait for it; A BLACK WOMAN!!!” exclaimed a person on Threads.
A like-minded poster wrote, “She sure did put him in his place. Powerful.” Someone else on the app demanded, “Protect this woman at all costs!”
Over on X, one person tweeted, “He bullied the wrong woman! Good for her!” A Trump critic blasted the commander in chief by posting, “The most immature President ever. Makes Nixon’s antics at the end of Watergate seem tame.”
The verbal confrontation between Beatty and Trump is the latest chapter in the ongoing battle over The Kennedy Center branding. But it’s not the end.
Knowing the president’s fixation on his Washington vanity projects, more chapters are very likely to be written.
