Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Center website branding
By Kit Maher, CNN
(CNN) — The Kennedy Center website logo no longer includes “Trump” after a federal judge ruled President Donald Trump’s name had to be removed from the institution’s branding.
For now, the large lettering on the building’s facade still features “Donald J. Trump.” But the Kennedy Center’s general counsel said in a memo to staff that they have until June 12 to remove it to comply with the court order.
Staff were also instructed to immediately update some Kennedy Center documentation — including their email signatures and marketing materials — to remove Trump’s name, according to the memo.
“To comply with this order, you must immediately change email signatures, letterhead, and other documents to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center.’ Other changes, such as to templates and forms, signage, brochures, and website pages, must be completed no later than Friday, June 12, 2026,” the general counsel wrote in the memo, obtained by CNN last week.
Shortly after Trump’s loyalist board voted to change the name in December, the website’s logo read: “Trump Kennedy Center.”
The president has expressed frustration with the judge’s ruling, indicating in a Truth Social post shortly after the decision that he planned to transfer full control of the storied performing arts center to Congress. But he’s walked back those remarks since then, indicating last week that he would stick with plans to renovate the center.
“I’m the chairman, so we’ll just keep it going. Somebody has to do it,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “Everybody, they want me to stay very badly, so we’re going to take a look at it.”
Later this month, the Kennedy Center will honor comedian Bill Maher with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor “at a gala performance featuring some of the biggest names in comedy,” according to the website.
Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Woody Harrelson, Arianna Huffington, Jay Leno, John Mellencamp and Stephen A. Smith will appear at the Mark Twain Prize award ceremony, according to an email giving a “first look” at the event.
Performance-only tickets start at $99 and more expensive packages sell for $750 and $1500.
This story has been updated with additional details.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
