Trump says Kennedy Centre to close after judge bars name change

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the Kennedy Centre will close down – possibly for good – after a judge ruled his name cannot be added to the famed arts institution’s exterior.Trump said the Washington cultural venue’s trustees voted to shut down for what it says are vital emergency renovations, and that it will not reopen unless the judgment is overruled.“The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction,” Trump said in a social media post.Trump said it would close immediately but said the “very large and complex” renovations cannot begin until a higher court rules on whether it can be renamed after himself.“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the US Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”An official portrait of US President Donald Trump hangs in the Kennedy Centre in Washington in August. Photo: ReutersShortly after beginning his second term, Republican Trump installed himself as chairman of the centre, which is named in honour of late president John F. Kennedy, a Democrat who championed civil rights before he was assassinated in 1963.The board voted in December to call it the “Trump-Kennedy” Centre.