Lawmakers file lawsuit to remove Trump’s name from Kennedy Center

Democratic U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty has filed a lawsuit seeking to have President Donald Trump’s name removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Last week, the Kennedy Center board of directors, made up of Trump allies, voted to rename the performing arts center the Trump-Kennedy Center.

Beatty is one of several Democratic lawmakers designated by U.S. law to serve on the board. She claimed in the lawsuit that the name change was illegal because it required an “act of Congress.”

Beatty called into a meeting about the name change, but when she tried to express her objections, she remained silent, the lawsuit said.

Beatty argued that Congress wanted the center to be a “living monument” to former President John F. Kennedy.

“In a scene more reminiscent of a dictatorship than the American Republic, the sitting president and his handpicked loyalists have renamed the center of this saga after President Trump,” the lawsuit states.

The White House said in a statement provided to the BBC that Trump “stepped up” to save the Kennedy Center “by strengthening its finances, modernizing the building and ending the divisive Woke Program.”

“As a result, the Kennedy Center Board of Directors voted unanimously to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center, a historic move that signals a new era of success, prestige and restored glory for one of America’s most iconic cultural institutions,” White House spokesperson Liz Houston said.

On Friday, the president’s name was added to the building’s exterior, and the center’s website logo now reads “Trump Kennedy Center.”

The name change was met with harsh criticism, especially in Washington, D.C., where the center has been an iconic landmark since it was named and built after Kennedy.

Construction of the Performing Arts Center began in the 1950s, and after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Congress decided to name the center after him.

Shortly after taking office, Trump fired a large number of the center’s board members and replaced them with allies, who then voted to elect him as board chairman. His close adviser Richard Grenell became chairman of the board.

The center’s board of directors currently has 34 members appointed by Trump and an additional 23 members designated by U.S. law, according to the center’s website.

Trump also secured around $257m (£190m) in congressional funding to pay for major renovations and other costs at the venue, which he said was in “poor condition”.

Several members of the Kennedy family criticized the name change on social media.

“The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and is named for President Kennedy in accordance with federal law,” said Joe Kennedy III, a former member of the House of Representatives and grandnephew of the late president.

He added: “No matter what anyone says, it can’t be renamed, just like someone can rename the Lincoln Memorial.”