The bronze letters that bore President Donald Trump's name were removed from the Kennedy Center's facade in the early morning hours on June 13.
Workers began removing the letters around 3 a.m., with crowds gathering eventually to watch as rain and thunderstorms occurred. According to USA Today, onlookers cheered and sang “God Bless America.” People driving by even honked their vehicle horns in approval.
The center missed the 11:59 p.m. June 12 deadline to remove the President’s name, citing thunderstorms. A judge granted additional time, extending the compliance window to the following day at noon. Kennedy Center Executive Director and COO Charles Matthew Floca confirmed in a Saturday court filing that the name had been fully removed from the building facade.
The removal came less than six months after Trump's name was added to the building in December. U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper had issued a ruling on May 29, finding that the Kennedy Center's Board of Trustees violated "Congress's unequivocal mandate" by renaming the center without Congressional approval, and set a June 12 deadline for the original name to be restored.
"Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," Judge Cooper wrote.
In the days before the physical facade work, Trump's name had already been scrubbed from the center's website, phone voicemail, and YouTube channel. Officials had issued new identification cards and edited employee email signatures in accordance with the changes.
Before the restoration of the building’s previous name, the Trump administration and the Department of Justice filed last-ditch attempts to stay Cooper’s ruling from May.
Prior to his name being removed, President Trump had ambitious plans for the Kennedy Center that involved shutting it down for two years for massive renovations.
That all changed with Cooper’s May ruling, which prompted Trump to angrily reveal plans to transfer the institution back to Congress in a post on Truth Social.
“Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself!” he wrote. “Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND.’”
