White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Thursday that the Kennedy Center board voted unanimously to rename the building the Trump-Kennedy Center.
“I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center, some of the most successful people from all parts of the world, have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,” Leavitt wrote in a post on social platform X.
“Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation. 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,” she continued.
Roma Daravi, the vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center, confirmed Leavitt’s statement.
“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,” Daravi said. “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.”
Trump said he was “surprised and honored” when he learned of the name change on Thursday.
“The board is a very distinguished board, the most distinguished people in the country,” Trump told reporters. “We saved the building because it was in such bad shape, physically, financially, and in every other way, and now it’s very solid, very strong.”
Shortly after he returned to the White House, the president moved to replace several board members at the culture center and was subsequently elected chair by the new board. The move led to a number of resignations from the performing arts center.
Trump teased a potential name change while emceeing the Kennedy Center Honors earlier this month.
“The Trump Kennedy Center,” the president said at one point to the crowd as he stood onstage before grinning and adding “oops.”
Democrats were quick to push back on the vote, saying an official name change needs congressional approval.
“The Kennedy Center Board has no authority to actually rename the Kennedy Center in the absence of legislative action,” Jeffries said, according to a Bloomberg reporter.
Jack Schlossberg, former President Kennedy’s grandson, weighed in on the name change, arguing it was not unanimously approved by the board.
“Microphones were muted and the board meeting and vote NOT unanimous,” he wrote on social platform X. “Trump explicitly motivated to act by JACK FOR NEW YORK. Our campaign represents everything Trump can’t stand or defeat.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Oh.), an ex-officio Kennedy Center board member, said she was on the call during the vote, but was muted each time she tried to speak.
“Participants were not allowed to voice their concerns,” Beatty said, claiming the vote was not unanimous.
The president’s allies also pushed to rename the center. In July, Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.) introduced legislation that would rename the building the “Trump Center for the Performing Arts.”
Additionally, House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to the interior, environment and related agencies annual spending bill that would rename the center’s famed opera house — the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.”
The amendment received fierce criticism from critics, including Schlossberg.
“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces — but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers,” he wrote in post online at the time. “The Trump administration stands for freedom of oppression, not expression.”
Updated at 2:50 p.m. EST.