Workers removed Trump’s name from the exterior of the Kennedy Center as the famed art venue complied with a judge’s ruling.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Workers began to remove the President of Donald Trump name from the Kennedy Center facade early Saturday, hours after a court-ordered Friday deadline to remove references to Trump from the building and other aspects of the iconic performing arts venue’s operations.
Scaffolding was erected Friday around a section of the building that includes Trump’s name, but shortly after midnight, the Kennedy Center asked a judge to extend the deadline until noon Eastern time Saturday because of storms that swept through the Washington area, causing a delay.
In the filing, the Kennedy Center offered assurances that “removal work is currently underway” and “will be completed in the early morning hours.”
Hours later, workers began covering the scaffolding with tarps before finally beginning to remove Trump’s name. They packed them up and left the site around 3:30 a.m., although the tarps remained, making it impossible to determine if all the letters had been removed.
Dozens of people spent hours Friday in the square in front of the Kennedy Center taking pictures and occasionally cheering as they broke into chants of “take him down.” Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex-officio board member who sued to have Trump’s name removed from the building, was seen at one point on the square.
Earlier Friday afternoon, a judge denied a request to suspend the court-ordered deadline. The institution appealed that decision, an effort that was also denied Friday evening.
After ignoring the Kennedy Center for much of his first term, Trump has had a tremendous impact on the venue during his return to office. Just one month into his second term, he overthrew the previous leadership of the center and replaced him with a board of trustees who named him chairman. Trump’s name was quickly added to the building.
In his ruling that only Congress could make changes to the Kennedy Center’s name, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also blocked the administration from closing the arts and culture venue for major renovations that were scheduled to begin in July and last for two years.
Kennedy Center leadership argued in its appeal Friday that the renewal was badly needed and accused the lower court, in terms that sounded similar to Trump’s speech patterns, of interfering with the effort.
“The District Court does not allow us to close to properly fix and repair the Building, including potentially life-threatening structural damage, such as the beams and ceilings of the parking garages that are rusted and in serious danger of falling on people below,” according to the appeal. “Indeed, total collapse!”
Although the Kennedy Center has fought efforts to remove Trump’s name from the building, it has taken steps to honor Cooper’s original decision.
A June 4th memo to staff from the Kennedy Center’s Office of General Counsel said email signatures, letterheads and other documents should reflect the name as “John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center.”
The Kennedy Center’s website has removed Trump’s name. And an earlier email sent to members The offer of ticket packages for the Mark Twain Award for American Humor ceremony on June 28 came from the Kennedy Center without Trump’s name included.
By STEVEN SLOAN Associated Press
Associated Press reporters Anna Johnson, Mark Sherman and Emily Wang in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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