Tens of thousands of people have flocked to YouTube to witness President Donald Trump’s name being taken off the Kennedy Center building in real time.
MS NOW played a live social media feed of workers scrapping the 79-year-old president’s name from the storied arts institution in Washington, D.C. At one point, people could be heard cheering off-camera.
By 1:38 p.m. ET, the livestream had amassed more than 35,000 viewers.
The removal deals a humiliating blow to Trump’s doomed crusade to keep his name on the performing arts center named after former President John F. Kennedy.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper rejected Trump’s bid to remake the Kennedy Center in his image because the name change did not go through Congress, as is required by law.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” he wrote. “By way of this opinion, the Court does not purport to dictate how the Center should be run, nor does it prescribe any particular plan for the institution—construction, closure, or otherwise—moving forward. It simply holds the Kennedy Center Board to certain minimum requirements imposed by law.”
Days later, lawyers for the Kennedy Center informed employees in a memo that they “must immediately change email signatures, letterhead, and other documents to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center.’”
The memo also instructed employees to reverse any changes made to the Kennedy Center’s facade by June 12, according to The New York Times.
The Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, now stacked with Trump loyalists, launched a last-ditch effort on Thursday to keep his name on the building’s facade by seeking a stay of Cooper’s order.
The Kennedy Center board, which includes former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, voted in December to officially change its name to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees who filed a lawsuit against the center’s name change and closure, said she was among those who voted no.
“What you may hear is that there was a unanimous vote to rename the Kennedy Center the Trump Center,” she said at the time in a video shared on X. “To be clear, I was on that call, and as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions, and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted. Each time I tried to speak, I was muted.”
“This center, the Kennedy Center, was created by the Congress,” she added. “I think it’s important for us to know that this is just another attempt to evade the law and not let the people have a say.”
The Kennedy Center has been plagued with scandal since Trump returned to the White House and gave it a MAGA makeover. The arts center has seen declining ticket sales, renowned artists pulling out of their scheduled performances, and even a planned two-month closure, which Cooper also blocked.
Through most of its turbulent months under Trump 2.0, the Kennedy Center was headed by Richard Grenell, an ardent supporter of the president who struggled to attract audiences and artists.
An insider previously told CNN that Grenell had been described by staff as “combative, confrontational, and headstrong.” Another pointed out that he had no experience in the arts and ruled over the center “with a sledgehammer” and “campaign schticks.”
Grenell’s rocky tenure was cut short by Trump himself in March.
“Ric Grenell has done an excellent job in helping to coordinate various elements of the Center during the transition period, and I want to thank him for the outstanding work he has done,” he wrote in a Truth Social post appointing Matt Floca as the new head.
“THE TRUMP KENNEDY CENTER will be, at its completion, the finest facility of its kind anywhere in the World!”
