In December, the White House announced that the board had “unanimously” voted to rename the Kennedy Center the Trump Kennedy Center, and the website was updated to reflect the change.
Trump’s name was added to the building’s signage on December 19, reading “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,” Roma Daravi, the center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement to Business Insider. “The new Trump Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center for generations to come.”
Trump said he was “honored,” while Democratic lawmakers and members of the Kennedy family criticized the president.
Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, contested the White House’s claim of a unanimous vote, writing on X that “microphones were muted and the board meeting and vote NOT unanimous,” while Kennedy’s niece, Maria Shriver, wrote on X that the change is not acceptable.
Six Democratic lawmakers said in a statement that Trump was “attempting to affix his name to yet another public institution without legal authority.”