Here's Why Trump's Name Is Still on the Kennedy Center A lot happened overnight--but not the removal of the sign. [View all]

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News & Politics
Here’s Why Trump’s Name Is Still on the Kennedy Center

A lot happened overnight—but not the removal of the sign.

Written by Sylvie McNamara | Published on June 12, 2026

Yesterday afternoon, preparations seemed to be underway to scrub Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center’s facade: Fencing had appeared around the lettering, and rumors were flying of a dark-of-night removal, one that would comply with the recent court ruling that declared the renaming illegal. But as media and onlookers gathered around the building’s steps, hoping to witness the sign removal, the saga of the Trump-addled Kennedy Center took another odd turn; at a 4 PM meeting, members of the Kennedy Center’s board voted to appeal the court order. They intend to keep Trump’s name. As of Friday morning, the sign is still there, though the judge ordered that it come down by tonight.

But what are the grounds of this appeal? And what happens if the sign stays up in defiance of the judge’s deadline? The court order also mandated that the Kennedy Center stay open, so what is the status of that? The litigation surrounding the Kennedy Center has lately been ferocious and confounding, so here’s an attempt to answer these questions and more. This information is current as of Friday morning, June 12—but as we’ve been seeing, things can change fast.

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