Trump's name removed from Washington arts center

Workers in the US capital removed President Donald Trump’s name from the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, the venue said, after a federal judge ruled that its renaming was unlawful. In a legal filing, the center’s Executive Director Matt Floca said it had “removed all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds” containing Trump’s name. Around noon Washington time, the sign on the building’s exterior was still covered by a white tarp put up as work was being conducted to remove Trump’s name. Earlier, loud noise echoed from beneath the cover, as morning joggers stopped briefly in front of the venue to watch the work. The effort came after a judge rejected a last-minute bid by the center’s board to halt the removal of Trump’s name, marking a setback for the president’s broader push since returning to the White House to place his name and image in official spaces – an abrupt break with American political tradition. An eager crowd had gathered outside the arts center Friday night, cheering occasionally as workers erected scaffolding to take down the signage. Thousands monitored from afar via livestream, too, awaiting the moment when Trump’s name would be torn from the wall. The work was delayed by “thunderstorms which presented safety concerns to workers” and was expected to be completed “in the early hours of the morning,” Kennedy Center Executive Director Matt Floca said in a statement. US District Judge Christopher Cooper, in a ruling last month, had ordered Trump’s name taken off the iconic building in Washington by Friday. Cooper said in his May 29 ruling that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts had been illegally renamed after Trump and only Congress has the right to change its name. A tarp covers the facade of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on June 13, 2026. — AFP He gave the administration 14 days to remove Trump’s name from the marble facade a