Kennedy Center agrees not to restore Trump’s name before September 8

Kennedy Center agrees not to restore Trump’s name before September 8Opponents argue the venue’s board seems ‘intent on defying’ a Court Order to remove the US president’s name from the building.The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the United States has announced it will not attempt to immediately reinscribe US President Donald Trump’s name at the historic venue.In a joint court filing on Tuesday, the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees indicated it had “committed” to not taking further action before September 8, as legal arguments unfold.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US court rules that Trump’s name must stay off Kennedy Center during appeallist 2 of 3Whistleblower claims Kennedy Center ‘rushed’ renovations to please Trumplist 3 of 3Kennedy Center votes to restore Trump’s name to venue, close for two yearsend of listBut critics warned the cut-off date, roughly three weeks away, was a pretext for the board to make further changes to the cultural centre, located in the heart of Washington, DC.“To be clear: This fire drill is entirely of Defendants’ making,” the plaintiffs in the case wrote, referencing the deadline.The changes to the Kennedy Center under Trump have been the subject of a long-running legal battle.Since the start of Trump’s second term in 2025, his largely self-appointed board has pushed to increase the president’s influence over the arts venue, including by naming him as chairman.Last December, it voted to affix Trump’s name to the building, in what many saw as a violation of the congressional act designating the theatre complex a living memorial to former US President John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.Amid the controversy, Trump announced in February that he would close the building for two years of renovations.The decisions sparked a lawsuit, with Joyce Beatty, a Democratic lawmaker who sits on the venue’s board, accusing the board of violating the laws that govern the Kennedy Center.In May, a federal judge ordered Trump’s name to be removed from the building’s facade, ruling that only the US Congress had the power to change what the venue is called.