On Saturday morning, workers removed Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, less than six months after it was added to the venue as part of its renaming to “Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
A federal judge reaffirmed the decision on Friday, ruling that Trump’s name must be taken down. The original renaming was annulled by a lower court late last month, and Trump had sought to delay its enforcement. The judge declared that any new name for the monument must be approved by Congress.
Reuters reported that the removal work began at approximately 1:20 local time, just hours after the US Department of Justice announced it would miss the Friday deadline of 23:59 due to stormy weather posing risks to worker safety. The Department requested a 12-hour extension, and workers completed the task in just over 30 minutes early Saturday.
During Trump’s second term, he appointed several of his close allies to the oversight board of the Kennedy Center, after which they named him chairman. This led to the decision in December to rename the centre after him, with his name added to its façade the following day.
The Kennedy Center, opened in 1971, was originally named to honour President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.
