June 13, 2026
WASHINGTON D.C. – (AP) The letters spelling out President Donald Trump’s name on the facade of the Kennedy Center are now gone, the executive director of the performing arts venue said in a legal filing Saturday with the court that had ordered the removal.
A tarp continued to hang over the scaffolding constructed for workers to remove Trump’s name from the building, making it impossible to immediately detect whether the only words remaining on its white marble portico are “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
Matt Floca, who is also the center’s chief operating officer, told the court that he was a “responsible official of the Kennedy Center” qualified to certify compliance with the order. He wrote that the board of trustees and the center have removed “all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds, including the front portico, that purports to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump.”
That declaration to U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper came after a day of legal maneuvers and thunderstorms, and hours after workers had begun the process of removing the Republican president’s name. They started hours past the original court-ordered deadline, later extended to noon EDT, and did their work shrouded by the tarp, much to the frustration of onlookers who had gathered for hours hoping to witness a dramatic moment symbolizing the limits of Trump’s power.
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