Judge demands answers on Kennedy Center’s Trump tarp of shame

A federal judge wants to know why the Kennedy Center remains hidden behind a tarp nearly two weeks after workers removed President Donald Trump’s name from its facade under court order.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper on Wednesday ordered the parties in Rep. Joyce Beatty’s lawsuit against Trump and the Kennedy Center’s leadership to explain the purpose and status of the tarp and scaffolding covering the building’s front portico.

“The report shall also indicate the purpose for and status of the tarp and scaffolding that Defendants have erected on the front portico of the Center, to the extent they remain at that time,” the order states.

The explanation must be included in a joint status report filed within seven days of a Kennedy Center Board of Trustees meeting expected in mid-July, or by July 31, whichever comes first.

The order adds judicial scrutiny to what has become a strangely literal cover-up. The tarp first prevented a crowd gathered outside the national cultural institution from watching Trump’s name come down. It has since prevented the public from seeing the facade restored to the name Congress gave it more than six decades ago.

The removal happened behind a curtain

Workers erected scaffolding outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on June 12 as a court-imposed deadline approached. After midnight, crews draped tarps around the structure and began removing the letters that had placed Trump’s name above Kennedy’s.

By the time workers left early on June 13, the president’s name had been removed. The tarp was not.

Kennedy Center Executive Director Matt Floca later declared under oath that the institution had removed all signage purporting to rename the memorial in Trump's honor. But for days, the public had no way to verify that statement by looking at the building itself.

Photographs eventually offered the first view behind the covering. They showed that Trump’s name had, in fact, been removed.

According to The Washington Post, Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi said the scaffolding and tarp would remain while crews addressed maintenance needs involving the building’s marble and soffit panels. She did not say how long the work would take or when the facade would be visible again.

Beatty’s attorneys have argued that the explanation strains credibility. In a court filing, they accused Trump and his allies of “willfully sabotaging Kennedy Center’s iconic façade” to soothe wounded egos after their loss in court.

Trump and Ric Grenell remade the Kennedy Center

The episode is the latest consequence of Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, which began in February 2025 when he removed trustees, installed political allies, and made himself chairman.

Trump selected Richard Grenell, the combative gay Republican operative and former ambassador to Germany, to lead the institution. Grenell became the public face of Trump’s effort to purge what the president derided as “woke” programming, including drag performances and other LGBTQ+ cultural events.

Under Grenell’s leadership, artists canceled appearances. Productions withdrew. WorldPride programming was displaced. Ticket sales declined as Trump and Grenell recast a national memorial as an extension of the president’s culture war.

The board’s decision to add Trump’s name to the building came during a December meeting at which the proposal had not appeared on the agenda. Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio trustee, said she was muted when she attempted to object.

Workers installed the new letters the following day, changing the facade to read “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

Grenell stepped down as president in March but remained an adviser to the institution. Cooper ruled on May 29 that the board lacked authority to rename the center.

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” he wrote.

The judge ordered Trump’s name removed, restored voting rights to ex officio trustees such as Beatty, and preliminarily blocked the board’s plan to close the center for two years beginning July 5.