The board of directors of the Kennedy Center voted on Tuesday September 15 to immediately close this cultural hotspot in Washington that Donald Trump, who has held it under his control since 2025, is threatening not to reopen if he does not get his name included there.
The announcement of the closure, made by the American president himself on his Truth Social platform and coupled with his warning, came shortly after a federal judge ruled that the name of Donald Trump could not be reinstated on the imposing white building without the agreement of Congress.
The decision of the board of directors – which it largely supports – to close the cultural institution “immediately” was “almost unanimous” and is based on “security reasons”, wrote Donald Trump. He subsequently conditioned the renovation work on a court decision ultimately favorable to his name being displayed on the building. “If the decision is negative, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the US Supreme Court, the reconstruction and renovation of the Kennedy Center will not take place,” he threatened.
Also readWhite House construction site: Donald Trump makes 123 years of history disappear under rubble
A few hours earlier, after a summary hearing, Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the defense was “prohibited from writing ‘Renovated and restored by Donald Trump’ on the main building.” “To put it simply, the defense cannot install a reference to President Trump (…) at the Kennedy Center without the agreement of Congress,” he ruled.
Donald Trump loyalists on the board of directors
Donald Trump took control of the Kennedy Center – named in memory of the assassinated former Democratic President John F. Kennedy – shortly after his return to the White House in 2025 by largely placing the faithful on his board of directors, with the desire to “put it back on the right track” and the promise of “not woke” programming. His name was attached to that of JFK on the facade last December.
But a first decision by Judge Cooper at the end of May ordered the Kennedy Center board of directors to remove any reference “to President Trump or any individual other than President Kennedy” on the building itself, its website and its trademarks. The Kennedy Center announced in June that it had complied.
Its board of directors, however, returned to the charge during the summer with a new project aimed at paying tribute, through an inscription on the building, to Donald Trump’s commitment to the renovation of the cultural institution.
Its members argue that, given the precarious state of the finances of the Kennedy Center and its building, only Donald Trump is able to raise funds and set up a large-scale rehabilitation, and that as such it is legitimate for his name to appear on the performance hall.
Artists shun the Kennedy Center
Judge Cooper blocked it again on Tuesday. In his May decision, this same magistrate also provisionally suspended the closure of the room for two years, considering that the council had failed in its “duty of prudence” by not taking into account the negative repercussions of this closure.
He nevertheless authorized the continuation of the repair work planned at the Kennedy Center, for which “the need appears glaring” and specified that he would not oppose a new decision to close if it was taken after a more in-depth evaluation.
Since it came under the control of Donald Trump, a number of artists – for example, the very popular musical comedy “Hamilton about the birth of American democracy – have shunned the performance hall. According to the American press, ticket sales and fundraising have collapsed.
While only deciding on its closure, the board was initially expected to consider ten proposals aimed at referencing Donald Trump, ranging from variations on “renovation and financing overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center fund” to “a legacy preserved through the generosity of President Donald J. Trump.”
With AFP
