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Kennedy Center Board Votes to Close, President Trump Vows to Renovate if His Name Is on Building
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will have its doors shuttered for a while.
On Tuesday, September 15, members of the Kennedy Center board, mostly appointed by President Donald Trump, voted to close the performing arts venue to visitors indefinitely for renovations amid financial worries, CNBC reported.
The board already voted to close the facility for renovations in March, but in May Judge Christopher Cooper blocked that decision, according to the outlet. However, the center could still close for emergency or necessary renovations.
Also Tuesday, Cooper blocked the center from putting the 80-year-old commander in chief’s name back on the building after he ruled in May that Trump’s name must go.
“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper wrote in his order on Tuesday.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, writing the Kennedy Center will close “for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction.”
“The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name,” the billionaire claimed. “If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”
The board has previously proposed one way to put Trump’s moniker on the facility, including having it say “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” with the words “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump” underneath.
