The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. may be undergoing a name change.
In a post on X Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the center’s board of trustees “have just voted unanimously” to change the name of the historic arts and cultural institution to the Trump-Kennedy Center. The board members were appointed by President Trump in February, after he named himself chairman and fired some board members, with others resigning.
“The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to name the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. The unanimous vote recognizes that the current Chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction. The new Trump Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center for generations to come,” Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement.
“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will no doubt attain new levels of success and grandeur,” Leavitt wrote.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It remains unclear whether the board has the authority to change the name of the national cultural center, which was designated a “living memorial” in 1964 in memory of the slain President John F. Kennedy. The center, which hosts the Kennedy Center Awards, Broadway shows, concerts operas and more, first opened in 1971.
The cultural institution has been a touchpoint for Trump since he took office, as he often railed against its “woke” programming before taking over as chair, handpicking the board and laying out guidelines for programming.
Trump hosted the annual Kennedy Center honors in January, where he had helped pick honorees Sylvester Stallone, Kiss, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford and George Strait.
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