Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty is accusing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt of misrepresenting the level of support for renaming the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump.
Beatty, who holds an automatic seat on the Kennedy Center board as a congressional leader, responded after Leavitt announced on Thursday, Dec. 18, that the board had voted “unanimously” to rename the John F. Kennedy Memorial for the Performing Arts as the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
In a video posted to X, Beatty said she had just finished a call with the Kennedy Center and disputed the claim of unanimous support.
“I am bringing this to you live today because what you may hear is that there was a unanimous vote to rename the Kennedy Center, the Trump Center,” Beatty said.
“Be clear: I was on that call, and as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted,” she continued. “Each time I tried to speak, I was muted. Participants were not allowed to voice their concerns who were online, yet it was said at the end it was a unanimous vote.”
Beatty also argued that Congress has authority in the matter, noting that the Kennedy Center was created by Congress. “Clearly the Congress has a say in this,” she said, calling the move “another attempt to evade the law and not let the people have a say.”
In the caption accompanying her video, Beatty added: “Also for the record, this was not on the agenda. This was not consensus. This is censorship.”
The dispute comes amid broader changes at the Kennedy Center after Trump returned to office. Soon after taking office, he moved to reshape the institution’s leadership by removing board members and installing allies. The newly aligned board then named Trump chairman of the arts organization, which was dedicated in 1964 as a “living memorial” to President John F. Kennedy.
“I want to make sure it runs properly,” Trump said at the time. “We don’t need woke at the Kennedy Center, and we don’t need — some of the shows were terrible. They were a disgrace that they were even put on.”
Trump also appeared to tease the idea of a name change earlier this year. In August, while previewing the annual Kennedy Center Honors on social media, he wrote: “GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS. They will be announced Wednesday.”
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At the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, Trump hosted the event as a sitting president and honored Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford.
Trump’s interest in a rename has drawn public criticism from Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s only grandson. Over the summer, Schlossberg argued that changing the memorial’s name would conflict with federal law, citing a congressional act stating that “no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
In a July Instagram post, Schlossberg wrote: “The Trump Administration stands for freedom of oppression, not expression. He uses his awesome powers to suppress free expression and instill fear. But this isn’t about the arts.”
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“Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK, with minimizing the many heroes of our past, as if that elevates him. It doesn’t,” he added. “But there’s hope — art lasts forever, and no one can change what JFK and our shared history stands for.”
The Kennedy Center opened as an interactive memorial for the late president under Public Law 88-260, which is cited as a reason additional memorials are not permitted within the center. Kennedy, a devoted supporter of the arts, frequently advocated for what he called “our contribution to the human spirit,” according to the center’s site. Although plans for a national cultural center in Washington, D.C., predated Kennedy’s death, it was redesignated as a memorial in the months after his assassination. Construction began in 1964, and the center opened in 1971.
