Workers remove Trump’s name from Kennedy Center

Workers in the U.S. capital removed President Donald Trump’s name from the façade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, following a federal judge’s ruling that the renaming was unlawful.

In a legal filing, the center’s Executive Director, Matt Floca, stated that they had “removed all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds” that contained Trump’s name.

By noon Washington time, the sign on the building’s exterior was still covered by a white tarp while workers continued the removal process.

Earlier, loud noises had echoed from beneath the cover as morning joggers paused to observe the work in progress.

This action followed a judge’s rejection of a last-minute request from the center’s board to stop the removal of Trump’s name, marking a setback for the president’s broader initiative, since his return to the White House, to place his name and image in official spaces—an abrupt departure from American political tradition.

An eager crowd gathered outside the arts center on Friday night, cheering occasionally as workers erected scaffolding to take down the signage. Thousands more watched from afar via livestream, eagerly awaiting the moment when Trump’s name would be removed from the wall.

Protesters waved U.S. flags and held a sign reading “You’re No JFK” as workers built scaffolding near the signage for the “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” in Washington, D.C., on June 12, 2026.

The work was delayed by “thunderstorms which presented safety concerns to workers” and was expected to be completed “in the early hours of the morning,” Kennedy Center Executive Director Matt Floca said in a statement.

US District Judge Christopher Cooper, in a ruling last month, had ordered Trump’s name taken off the iconic building in Washington by Friday.

Cooper said in his May 29 ruling that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts had been illegally renamed after Trump and only Congress has the right to change its name.

He gave the administration 14 days to remove Trump’s name from the marble facade and any materials linked to the venue.

ALSO READ: How Israel-Iran war is affecting military equipment supply — Defence Minister

The Kennedy Center dropped Trump’s name from the website of the institution earlier this week.

On Friday, Cooper rejected a last-minute appeal by the center’s board to stay his ruling, prompting the center to request a 12-hour extension of the deadline to remove the signage.

The judge turned down the request, saying the public interest “is rarely served by the ‘perpetuation’ of ‘unlawful’ governmental action.”

Cooper has also issued a temporary block on Trump’s demand to close the Kennedy Center for two years of renovations, which was due to start in July.

A furious Trump reacted by saying he was giving up control of the venue, which he seized at the start of his second term last year by naming himself chairman.

The center’s governing board, which Trump stacked with loyalists, voted to rename the venue the “Trump Kennedy Center” in December and the Republican president’s full name was added to the facade in large, all-capital letters above that of Kennedy.

A number of artists canceled scheduled performances following the move.

The now-defunct US Institute of Peace was renamed after Trump, and his face stares down from huge banners outside the Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture.