The Trump Kennedy Center has been sued by a member of Congress who sits on the iconic cultural institution’s board after a vote to add President Donald Trump‘s name to the building was cast last week.
Representative Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who is a non-voting member of the Center’s board,filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration for renaming the building and claiming that the vote to do so was unanimous.
After the announcement of the name change last week, Beatty took to X to launch a complaint against the move, claiming that she was silenced and did not get a vote on the matter.
Richard Grenell, the Center’s President, responded to Beatty’s claims last week, writing on X that she is a ‘non-voting ex-officio member,’ before adding that ‘all ex-officio Members never get to vote.’
In the suit, Beatty alleges that only Congress can change the Center’s name, as it was intended to be a’living memorial’ to President John F. Kennedy after his assassination in 1963 and be a ‘crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party.’
Kennedy Center Vice President of Public Relations Roma Daravi told the Daily Mail that the action to rename the center is ‘in line with the precedent of the State Department adding President Trump’s name to the Institute of Peace. And the previous Administration renaming military bases.’
During an appearance on WMAL’s O’Connor and Company, Daravi noted that the ‘Kennedy Memorial is not impacted at all by this name addition,’ also stating that adding Trump’s name to the building gets back to the original bipartisan roots of the Center, as it was created by President Eisenhower and then dedicated to Kennedy after his death.
The Kennedy Center’s name change was poorly received by many members of the Kennedy Family, including former President John F. Kennedy’s niece Kerry Kennedy, who pledged to take a ‘pickax’ to the letters forming Trump’s name on the building after he leaves office.
Workers stand on lifts in front of the newly added lettering for U.S. President Donald Trump’s name at the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a day after its board announced it would rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 19, 2025
Rep. Joyce Beatty speaks outside the U.S. Capitol Building on December 18, 2025 in Washington, DC
‘Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder. Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job,’ Kerry Kennedy wrote on X on Friday.
At least one artist, Kristy Lee, has cancelled a performance at the Center in the wake of the name change, per a report from NOTUS, and others may be following suit.
The Daily Mail exclusively reported earlier this month that the iconic Washington cultural center had deteriorated so badly that engineers recommended tearing it down and starting over.
Grenell told the Daily Mail during an interview at the Kennedy Center Honors that President Donald Trump’s real estate background saved the 54-year-old landmark from demolition.
‘When I arrived at our building, people and our engineers said we should tear down the Kennedy Center, completely start over, and go to Congress and ask for massive amounts of money,’ Grenell said.
Grenell took Trump on a tour to assess the damage firsthand. ‘We went downstairs, I showed him the sewer system that is collapsing,’ he said.
‘We have lawsuits from drivers who have driven underneath the Kennedy Centerthe concrete ceiling is falling on cars now. Where was the media for the last five to seven years as this place was falling apart?’
Unlike the controversial decision to tear down the East Wing of the White House, Trump opted to save the Kennedy Center.
‘I can save it,’ he told Grenell, choosing renovation over demolition. Trump asked Congress for $250 million for the project in the ‘One Big Beautiful’ bill that passed just before the bicameral July 4 recess.
Moments before making history as the first sitting president to host the Kennedy Center Honors – which airs to the public on Tuesday evening – Trump told reporters the Center ‘could never be built again.’
‘It’s got three massive stagesdance, theater, and the place we will be in tonight. There’s really nothing like it in the country,’ the president said.