U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also ruled that officials must halt plans to close the venue for the next two years for a restoration.

Judge orders Donald Trump to remove his name from Kennedy Center on JFK’s birthday

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also ruled that officials must halt plans to close the venue for the next two years for a restoration.

Joey Nolfi

Joey Nolfi is a senior writer at *. *Since 2016, his work at EW includes RuPaul’s Drag Race video interviews, Oscars predictions, and more.

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on May 29, 2026 6:54 p.m. ET

Donald Trump attends the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C.; The Donald Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Credit:

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty

- A judge ruled that Donald Trump's name must be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

- The move came after Trump attempted to rebrand the legally protected memorial venue.

- Trump railed at the ruling on social media.

A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump to remove his name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after the president attempted to overtake the legally protected commemorative venue in various capacities over the last year.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled Friday that officials must also halt plans to close the venue for the next two years for a restoration, following a preliminary injunction by Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, according to court documents review by **. The decision came on May 29, which would have been JFK's 109th birthday.

Current leadership at the Kennedy Center has two weeks to remove Trump's name from the building, after the president had it placed on the exterior of the building in 2025.

Donald Trump in court on Jan. 11, 2024, in New York City.

Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty

Reached for comment on the ruling, Roma Daravi, president of public relations for the Kennedy Center, tells EW via email that "we are confident that on appeal the court will uphold the board's will to recognize President Trump's historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center."

On the planned closure, she adds that officials will "review the decision carefully," but maintains that the building needs "urgent and significant restoration."

Trump subsequently railed against the ruling, writing on Truth Social that he "took great pride in taking over a losing Institution, and looked forward to making it into a Great and Prestigious WINNER." He added that he would be "working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it."

Judge Cooper's office declined to comment on the ruling.

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Trump's attempted rebranding of the Kennedy Center prompted Beatty to introduce a lawsuit against the venue's board of trustees, in which she cited a law prohibiting anyone from turning the Kennedy Center, which opened in 1971, into a memorial for a figure other than JFK following the president's 1963 assassination.

The renaming process drew widespread criticism, including from Kennedy family members like JFK's niece, Maria Shriver, and JFK's grandson, Jack Schlossberg.

Shriver spoke out in a social media post on Instagram, where she wrote, "The Kennedy Center was named after my uncle, President John F. Kennedy. It was named in his honor. He was a man who was interested in the arts, interested in culture, interested in education, language, history."

Donald Trump during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the White House in December 2025.

Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty

Shriver continued, "He brought the arts into the White House, and he and my Aunt Jackie amplified the arts, celebrated the arts, stood up for the arts and artists. It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy. It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not."

JFK's niece, Kerry Kennedy, also expressed her desire to work toward removing Trump's name from the building.

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Since the beginning of Trump's second term, his leadership at the venue has sparked numerous artists to cancel planned events at the Kennedy Center, including Issa Rae, *Wicked* composer Stephen Schwartz, musician Chuck Redd, and Oscar nominee Philip Glass.

[*This article has been to reflect Trump's Truth Social post and Judge Cooper's office declining to comment.*]

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