President Donald Trump‘s name has been removed from the Kennedy Center after a federal appeals court declined to block a judge’s order requiring the arts institution to restore its original name. It was only a few hours late for meeting their court-ordered deadline of midnight Friday night.
Workers spent the early hours of Saturday dismantling the signage from the Washington landmark, drawing a crowd of onlookers who gathered outside the building to watch the process unfold. Journalists and spectators documented the removal throughout the night, including an 11-hour livestream by journalist Jim Acosta that tracked the operation from start to finish.
KENNEDY CENTER LIVE PART 2 – JIM ACOSTA IS LIVE OUTSIDE THE KENNEDY CENTER WHERE WORK HAS BEGUN TO REMOVE DONALD TRUMP’S NAME FROM THE FRONT OF THE BUILDING. https://t.co/Dbc99tOk4U
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 12, 2026
According to reports from the scene, crews erected a tarp over the facade shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday. By approximately 3:30 a.m., the lettering bearing Trump’s name had been removed, though the tarp remained in place later Saturday morning.
The overnight work came just hours after a federal appeals court declined to grant an emergency request that would have allowed the signage to remain while legal challenges continued. The decision cleared the way for Kennedy Center officials to comply with a lower court ruling that found the board lacked the authority to rename the institution.
The dispute stems from Trump’s effort to reshape the Kennedy Center after taking control of its board and installing allies in leadership positions earlier this year. The board subsequently approved renaming the venue the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” a move that prompted lawsuits, criticism from artists and performers and questions about whether a federally established memorial to President John F. Kennedy could legally be renamed through board action.
A federal judge ultimately ruled that the name change violated federal law and ordered the institution to restore its original name. Trump’s allies sought an emergency stay, arguing the ruling should be paused while appeals continued, but the appeals court declined to intervene.
The removal marks a significant setback for one of the administration’s most visible efforts to leave its mark on a major cultural institution. Supporters argued the renaming reflected Trump’s influence over the center, while critics maintained that the venue was created by Congress as a living memorial to Kennedy and should not be repurposed to honor a sitting president.
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For several hours overnight, the battle played out in public view. Onlookers watched from outside the building as crews worked behind a tarp to erase one of the most controversial symbols of Trump’s takeover of the institution.
By dawn, the name was gone, but the tarp remained.
The legal dispute over the Kennedy Center may continue, but the physical rebranding effort that sparked months of controversy had effectively disappeared before most Washington residents woke up Saturday morning.
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