U.S. Judge Rejects Stay to Preserve Trump Name on Kennedy Center

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center’s board failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success or that the venue would suffer “irreparable harm” if the Trump name were removed. The decision upholds a May 29 order requiring the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and sets a deadline for compliance by Friday.

The board filed a last‑minute request for a stay, seeking to keep the name on the building’s façade, but the request was denied. The center has already stripped “Trump” from its website, signage, email signatures and other materials, and scaffolding has been erected where the names once appeared. The legal setback follows a wave of artist withdrawals and public criticism over the attempted renaming.

The Justice Department, representing the Center, may still pursue an appeal, but the immediate effect is the restoration of the venue’s original name, “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”