Kennedy Center Removes Trump's Name

Names associated with former President Donald Trump have disappeared from Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center. On the 13th local time, Trump's name, previously displayed on the exterior of the Kennedy Center, was removed, and the name was also deleted from the center's website, according to U.S. media reports.

This action is related to the Kennedy Center's board, chaired by Trump at the time, deciding in December last year to change the center's name to the 'The Donald Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts'. A Democratic U.S. House representative had protested the name change and filed a lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the authority to change the Kennedy Center's name rests solely with Congress. Judge Cooper ordered the removal of Trump's name from the Kennedy Center's building, website, and signage. The Kennedy Center appealed for a stay of execution of the ruling until just before the removal deadline, but the court denied it. Consequently, Kennedy Center workers removed the letters from the building's exterior overnight. Hundreds of citizens gathered at the site to watch the demolition.

The Kennedy Center was established following the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy in 1963, through an act of Congress and the then-President's signature. Before the name change, the official name of the Kennedy Center was the 'John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts'.

Former President Trump commented on the court's order, stating, 'Judge Cooper and the radical left want to see the center fail.' This name removal action represents a legal determination regarding the use of names for cultural institutions.